Personal Narrative: My American Dream
The American Dream When I was nine I moved to Newark, New Jersey from Ecuador to have a better life. The whole time I was in Newark my mother would always tell me to study hard and go to college because I can do anything I could in this country. At that age I had different plans and having a successful career wasn’t on my to do list. I joined the military at the age of 18 to explore the world and leave Newark, because it wasn’t a good place to live. After joining and going through training I did travel to different places around the world and college was still not on my priority list. You see everything different when your 18 and don’t have anyone to tell you what to do with your off time. I did everything fun that I can think of and decided that I would just retired in the military and not worry about school anymore. Three years ago I started to
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think that I should get out of the military and see what the civilian life can offer, because I was getting tired of all the micromanaging the military did. That’s when I realized that what I was doing in the military did not transferred to anything out in the civilian job and the only job I qualified was to work for the food service industry. I was frustrated with my self because I wasted nine years of my life doing nothing to help myself become a better person. At that moment I had to sit down and figure out what were my options, and derived that in order for me to have a satisfying job, I needed to stop being lazy and start school.
Being in the military and going on deployments made it hard to attend a traditional college so I decided to attend an online college to have flexibility with my classes. The hardest part from all of these was to start the process of school and taking the placing exams to see where I fitted in the curriculum. After taking the placing exam and seeing the score I received I felt like I would never complete school because of how behind I was. My wife was one of the people that helped me through this and keep me motivated to continue with my education. There were some days that I felt like why am I doing this, I don’t understand this and I should just stay in the military and retire and not worry about school. I faced this way of thinking for a long time especially when classes were hard or got a bad grade on a test or essay. Eventually I was able to see that going to college even if I stayed in was going to help me succeed in the military and
outside. Three years later I’m planning on making the military a careen and retiring after serving 20 years. Going to school has opened my eyes on the possibilities on what I can do with my life. I received my Associates in Arts last year and now I’m pursuing my BA in Criminal Justice. I’m proud of my self for what I have accomplished and the opportunities I have opened just by changing the way of thinking. There’s always the If was to do it again I should of done this differently and yes If I had the opportunity to go back and change something I would change the way I saw learning. I enjoy going to school now, which if you asked me this three years ago I would of have said no.
think that I should get out of the military and see what the civilian life can offer, because I was getting tired of all the micromanaging the military did. That’s when I realized that what I was doing in the military did not transferred to anything out in the civilian job and the only job I qualified was to work for the food service industry. I was frustrated with my self because I wasted nine years of my life doing nothing to help myself become a better person. At that moment I had to sit down and figure out what were my options, and derived that in order for me to have a satisfying job, I needed to stop being lazy and start school.
Being in the military and going on deployments made it hard to attend a traditional college so I decided to attend an online college to have flexibility with my classes. The hardest part from all of these was to start the process of school and taking the placing exams to see where I fitted in the curriculum. After taking the placing exam and seeing the score I received I felt like I would never complete school because of how behind I was. My wife was one of the people that helped me through this and keep me motivated to continue with my education. There were some days that I felt like why am I doing this, I don’t understand this and I should just stay in the military and retire and not worry about school. I faced this way of thinking for a long time especially when classes were hard or got a bad grade on a test or essay. Eventually I was able to see that going to college even if I stayed in was going to help me succeed in the military and
outside. Three years later I’m planning on making the military a careen and retiring after serving 20 years. Going to school has opened my eyes on the possibilities on what I can do with my life. I received my Associates in Arts last year and now I’m pursuing my BA in Criminal Justice. I’m proud of my self for what I have accomplished and the opportunities I have opened just by changing the way of thinking. There’s always the If was to do it again I should of done this differently and yes If I had the opportunity to go back and change something I would change the way I saw learning. I enjoy going to school now, which if you asked me this three years ago I would of have said no.