From Then to Now, The Story of my Life

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From Then to Now, the Story of My Life
PSY 202
Jennifer Lloyd
June 7, 2013

I. Where are you from?
A. Small town in north Alabama
B. Lived in the country
C. Live on a farm
II. What is your family like?
A. Large family
B. Split family
C. Distant family
III. What things do you remember about your childhood?
A. Being left alone
B. Fighting
C. Having to grow up too fast
IV. What are your educational experiences?
A. Attended a larger school
B. Changed schools several times
C. Family unable to help with school work
D. Almost not graduating
V. What are your hobbies?
A. Reading
B. Shooting
C. Working on cars
D. Malls, movies, shopping
E. Traveling/Camping

From Then to Now, the Story of my Life
As is sit here in Afghanistan, a place I never thought I would be, I find myself enrolled in college again and I am excited about it. I had never intended to stop going to school but life doesn’t always let you do what you want. In this paper I will tell you about where I am from and a few of my life experiences, so that you will have a little understanding of who I am. I also will be using a few of the theories that were taught in this course to assist me. We will also take a small look into what I plan for my future.
I am from a small town in north Alabama called Double Springs, population 2500 people and, until the last few years, the town had only one red light. It is a nice little quiet country town out in the middle of Bankhead National Forest in Winston County. I lived in a little house on the outskirts of town, it wasn’t much but it was home. There we had a small parcel of land where we kept 6 horses, 5 cows, 3 dogs, and 8 chickens. It was not much but it was our little farm and it was quiet.
I would say I have a rather large family. Even though my parents are divorced I am not partial to one side over the other which makes for a very large family. My mother’s side of the family is originally from Michigan and my father’s side has many family members that live in Hawaii, so my family is spread far and wide. I have unfortunately never had the opportunity to go to Michigan and visit those family members. I did however have the opportunity to live in Hawaii for a short 2 years; sadly I have not visited in quite some time, if memory serves correct ten years. In my child hood I have a few distinct memories and the memories that stand out the most are those of being left alone. My mother would take off and leave my younger brother and I alone go visit her husband who worked in various states. She would stock up the kitchen and there would be a note when I got home saying that she was off to some state and would be back at the end of the week. I also remember all the fighting, the constant fighting between my mother and step-father. Due to these two types of events that happened frequently I had to grow up fast because I also had a little brother to take care of, laundry, cooking, cleaning, even helping him with his school work when I was able. All because mom either wasn’t there or was fighting and could not take care of my brother and I. Where we lived at had a very large school system due to several neighboring towns having to combine to share one school system, which lead to a problem of overcrowding. Due to the fighting in my mother’s relationship I had to change schools several times which led to a problem in maintaining good grades. Most of my family had not complete high school so I did not really have any help on school work if I was having problems, and due to the large number of students/teacher ration the teachers had no time for one on one counseling after class or school. This ultimately led to me failing several classes and almost not graduating high school on time. If it hadn’t been for my father I would not have been able to graduate on time.
Even though I had to grow up fast and did not have a lot of free time on my hands, I was able to manage to gain a few hobbies along the way such as reading. To me there is nothing better than a good book to help relieve stress. My dad’s side of the family is also into guns, which I have been dragged into, so I love shooting, buying, and working on guns. Being from the south I took up the old natural hobby of auto mechanics, granted I am no specialist, however I do love to go out from time to time and get my hands greasy. I also have a social side, I love going to the movies, malls, and I like to go shopping. Lastly I love the outdoors, I love to pack up and go camping for a week, I also love traveling be it by car or plane I just love going to new places and escaping from the modern world from time to time.
In our studies throughout this class, I discovered that that I fit perfectly into one of Erikson’s theories of psychological stages. The text states that adolescents “anguish over who they are and how they fit into their social world.” (Witt & Mossler, 2010, p. 53). At the age of 15 I did not have a clue how I fit into my social world or what I wanted to do with my life. I did know, however, that I was going to complete school and be better than my mother.
Since graduating high school and joining the military I now have may goals on becoming a better parent that my mother. I have the drive that the military has instilled in me, as well as a group of motivating peers. I have already done two things that my mother did not, complete high school and enroll in college. I plan on brining children into this world at some point and the lessons that I have learned will help me be a better parent. To this very day I still learn many things from my mother that I will use to raise my children and use to push myself father in life than any of her other children, and hope that by doing so I show my other siblings that you have the power to change your future. Since joining the military I have given one of my siblings an option of doing something good with his life since he refuses to go to college. I have also been supported by my family with my decision to return to school to better myself and achieve a life goal of obtaining a degree. I plan to take my degree and open my own business before I retire out of the Air Force so that I have a nice retirement and will be able to provide for my family. I can only hope that I can inspire my children to be better than me so that they may be successful as well.
In conclusion, I have discussed a few of the events in my life that have helped me become the person I am today. I also used the knowledge that I gained in this course to support those experiences. I have also discussed a few of the future goals that I will achieve just like I have achieved a few so far. The knowledge and experience I have gained from this course has been more than just beneficial, it has been motivational; it will help me be a more successful individual as I continue with my plan of achieving my degree in Business Administration.

References

Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A. (2010). Adult development and life assessment. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

References: Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A. (2010). Adult development and life assessment. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.