Education Narrative Draft 1

Growing up in a typical Mexican household, I was always being told that I had to make something of my life, I had to become this great and big successful person in everyone’s eyes with no mistakes or excuses. So throughout my life, my mother has always pushed me into getting perfect grades, always being punctual, and never repeating the same mistakes again. It seems a bit crazy but it was my reality and my “normal” Don’t get me wrong, It’s a great habit to grow into but as I grew, my perspective shifted from that. Making mistakes used to always be so odd to me, it was hard for me to realize that it was okay to make mistakes, it’s okay to be corrected and shown the right way and I’m not trying to make myself seem perfect in any way, It was just my own train of thought. Since I was little I was always told that you give your all or nothing at all, never in between. I was always being told what I should be in life,I was always taken to the path that my parents wanted me to have. As years went by I came to realize and understand why exactly they did it, my parents came at a young age from Mexico, leaving their studies behind, to of course have “ a better life on the other side” It was the typical American dream that they thrived for which kept them from becoming what they wanted to be. 

The moment they had me, they began to drill this idea in my mind of what I had to be, basically living their own dream without stopping to think about my own. I heard no other advice but theirs on my future career. As time went by I became less interested in what they’d say about my future which they then began to notice the lack of work that I gave. This all led to them doubting me just like any other person would have. I became less motivated with my studies because of the idea that I have to pursue their own dreams while I was trying to find my own. What they had in mind for me wasn’t what I wanted for myself. I wanted something better for myself not just to settle with what I can get, not with what they thought was the “perfect American dream”. It took me awhile to figure myself out and what i truly wanted in life. This had me open up to more peoples opinions on what a good career seemed like to them, what was just a casual conversation was actually a very informative one for me, a really helpful one in fact. I was learning about different career paths that can help me become even more successful than what they had in mind. I began to open up to others considerations and picked up on small Ideas that they’d throw in once in a while. So when I came across Stephon Hobson’s piece “The Caged Bird Prevails” a specific section stood out to me the most, “I remember my professor advised me to do something with a purpose, go to college and become a nurse. Those words stayed with me and I’ve been in a passionate pursuit to become a nurse ever since” The way he was able to open up to others and actually take their advice into consideration was exactly what I was picking up on from others too. I didn’t want to go through the same path that my older sister had to go through. She was forced to give up the dream of becoming an architect to pursue physical science. I decided to try and find my own path, I didn’t want to stay with a career that won’t have me content and just plain miserable for the rest of my life. I wanted to draw out my own life and take control. I set my priorities straight and actually thought through my own future. It was hard to actually break through from my comfort zone which was the idea that my family had for me and started to pursue my own dreams. I loved the idea of me as a business woman, as someone bigger than what my family had in mind for me. I set goals for myself as a way to find myself and my true passion. I was able to take people’s critics more as a way to improve myself and not as a way to bring me down and turn the other way. In order to truly be able to uplift yourself from those types of negative thoughts you’d have to truly work on your mind and mold it in a way that you’d want to present yourself as and not so sensitive to others thoughts of you. I was able to break out of my shell and test myself little by little with different tasks. I was fed up with my family’s train of thought, they had a small world planned out for me without me agreeing to any of it. It’s always hard to go against your parents wishes without coming out with many difficulties but that was something that I had to face head on. I began to take school seriously more than before, I set my mind to try and achieve better things. I know not everyone is perfect and there will forever be fall backs but there’s always a solution to everything. It just takes time and patience, so for me education is more than just school, it’s being able to learn from others and learn from yourself to become better than what you are today.