Consider what kind of person you want to be now and in the future. What do you want people to say about you in your obituary, for example?…
My mother, “Regina Hopkins,” has been a positive influence in my life. She has raised 6 kids all by herself as well as earned a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from a City College in Gainesville, Florida. My mother has been through pretty much everything a person can go through outside of war and was still able to be there and provide for all 6 of her kids. In high school, my mother wanted to play football and couldn't because she was a girl and back-in-the-day women were not allowed to play football with the guys. However, she remained strong by raising 6 kids and independently took care of all of us on her own. My mother has several qualities that I would love to develop. The first quality she has is balance; she certainly knows how to make…
I felt as though I was paralyzed from the waist down. I would try to move my leg or even shift an ankle but I never got a response. This was the first time thoughts of death ever cross my mind.…
I always believed that there is life after death and that you need to live your life to the fullest because once is something taken from you then you will regret not having it. The commencement in 2005 by steve jobs moved many people. He says “ Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make big choices in life.” He had a really hard choice to make, either give up or keep pushing forward, but just like his says “ You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Steve jobs had big visions and big ideas for this world. He speech spoke to many people and gave many people inspiration because he didn't give up and looked at the cup half full and not half empty.…
Time is winding down and the past thirty nine weeks has been nothing short but amazing. It has been full of different emotions and feelings. From the stretching of the skin to the sudden movement I have never felt before. It was all a new experience, but the feeling was indescribable. After a restless night, the sunrise appeared before I knew it. The pain was unbearable, but after several hours and a couple of good pushes you were here. I was extremely exhausted, but the relief was absolutely amazing. At first sight I fell in love with you. Not for how you look, just for who you are. I never thought I could feel affection like this. What is this? Is this how it's assume to feel or even resemble? It's kind of insane how you, only one individual,…
Today was the day. The big day. My election for Lieutenant Governor of Division 2B for Key Club, an international service club, was today. Fear and anxiety pricked my skin in rapid movements emanating from every pore. I rehearsed my speech for the fifth time that day. Upon arrival at the Fairfax Library, I urged myself to remain calm. I quickly scouted out the other girls who were present; one girl was dressed professionally with a folder in her hand. I knew that was my competition. The girl spoke eloquently and genially, she radiated enthusiasm and a certain warmth that I did not have. With every question that was asked, she answered with a smooth smile and high-pitched tone that was dripping with sincerity. I bristled inside; I had just been slapped. I was shrouded in a cloud of anxiety and anxiousness. Suddenly, I was dragged from my reverie.…
Moving on is easy but what you leave behind is what makes it hard. Once you get to a certain age in your life you know you have to move on sometime. I know times are hard but you have to push yourself toward what you really want in life even if it means moving away from what you love.…
I could make this essay as cliché as they come and talk about how being a single mother is so challenging, about how boot camp was so hard, or how a bad divorce changed my views on everything in my life… but instead, I’ll appreciate all of those things, and grasp my goals from a different challenge. That challenge is: loss. Some of my biggest goals were awknowledged through the death of my best friend, which in turn led me to this road at Paul Mitchell St. Louis. All of the above mentioned have shaped me, and for that I am grateful, however, the person who helped me realize my dreams of pursing art through cosmetology is no longer here, and with her is where my goals began, and my promise is fullfilled.…
Life is full of risks. And not all risks are predictable. The first and the biggest crisis in my life happened a few days after the fifteenth birthday. I was diagnosed with a kind of cancer and took a year off from middle school to have chemotherapy after surgery. Fortunately, I was on the mend after hospitalizing for the first three months, so I received the outpatient treatment after that. Now it was time to go back to school. However, I had a lot of different thoughts running through my mind. I no longer wanted to take my life for granted. Instead, I wanted to be stronger and challenge myself. So I decided to go on to high school in the abroad. I persuaded my parents for six months and they finally agreed to let me move to New York! It was…
This is a tribute to a man that has always been and will always be my mentor. His name is Alan Dale Jacobson, he is my father. He is not technically my father by blood, but he is by far the best father I could have ever asked for. I have known him my entire life as Uncle Al until I was 13 and he married my mother and our relationship went to a whole new level. He taught me many things like pride, honesty, to put my family above all things, and how to be an honorable man.…
time for me to begin my 10 minute warming up. I move my head side to side, stretch my legs, and I begin to walk briskly. I drank my water because I need to stay hydrated. When I was ready I sprinted out like a rocket. My brother began to time me. It took me 12 minutes to finish my one mile. Once I felt that my heart was pounding, my stomach started to develop painful cramps, and my My throat was as dry as a bone. I stopped and took deep breaths in and out. I took a five minute break and finished my 3 miles by walking. Once I finished my three miles I felt proud of myself and motivated for the next days to…
Did you know what they wanted in terms of after-death care? / How did the subject of your deaths come up?…
I thought completing Marine Corps boot camp was my most cherished accomplishment, but it merely stood in the shadows of my last deployment’s final work-up. Combat preparation is as stressful as you could imagine, and that stress doubles on leadership positions. D. H. Lawrence’s poem sounds like an alarm in my head when things get hard, “I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself”. You have a choice to make during hard times: wonder “why me” or rise above the situation.…
It was September 2 of 2015, the air was just a little chilly, and, for once, I was glad I was wearing my grey sweater. I stood outside of my mother’s Yukon waiting for my brothers to pile in the back. When they finally did, my mother drove us to the funeral home. The drive was long and quiet, it was as if someone had grabbed a television remote and muted us, so I decided I would listen to music to drown out the silence.…
Most teenagers do not have a clue about what they want to be when they grow up. Most young adults also do not know where their path is in life. Even some full-blown adults are still trying to figure out their purpose. I was lucky. I knew exactly where I belonged from about the time I was seven up until now, at the decently young age of nineteen. I do not see my path changing anytime soon; in fact, I know it will never change. But, I did not just wake up one day as a child and know what my path was, while that would be impressive. Defining moments in one’s life defines who they are. There were lots of things I experienced in my life that made me realize my purpose, my absolute passion. I had four of these defining moments in my short span of…