What lessons learned in 2022 will impact your goals for 2023? by Dulce

What lessons learned in 2022 will impact your goals for 2023? by Dulce - December 2022 Scholarship Essay

As I look back at my childhood I can remember hating my family. I was not raised in the average “American dream” household that TV shows always seem to portray. I was raised by a single mother who faced many hardships on her own, and her children who also experienced the effects of it. My brothers are both alcoholics in their 30s, who live with me and my mom. In 2022, I experienced the repercussions of traumatic things that have happened to me as a child, but that were finally catching up to me. After being denied mental health treatment by my mom, I knew all I had was myself. Before seeking treatment I noticed that the unfortunate affected me a lot in school, I wasn’t doing my homework, I would rot in bed for hours after school when I didn’t have dance practice. My Junior year of high school, the year I struggled the most with staying sane, while also doing dance, and maintaining good grades. I fortunately found a therapist and in the end I was diagnosed with PTSD, and I found ways to better myself. Overall, during this time I learned that only you can save yourself; I believed I could change the trajectory of my life with going to therapy and finally stop pitying myself. Another lesson I learned was that mental/physical health actually do matter. I heard it so much especially throughout middle school and as well as the tragic covid times we all faces- but I never actually realized how important my overall health was. My senior year I chose to academically challenge myself by taking an AP science class, and some dual enrollment classes. I finally stopped making excuses for myself and tried my best to do well in all those classes. After being denied help from my own family, facing the difficulties, and seeking treatment, I feel as if I have better myself academically and situationally. Luckily, the lessons I have learned along the way have impacted the way I make decisions. While they were hard lessons I needed to learn, in the end they made me the best me possible, and in 2023 and I plan to be a better person. Not only for myself and wellbeing. I want to be a better daughter; one who doesn't blame everything on her mom and loves her the way she loves me. I want to be a better sister; one who can recognize all the positive things my brothers have done for me over the years- like basically raising me. And overall, I want to be a better me; one who doesn't talk down on herself after a hard week, and one who loves herself more than anyone ever could.