I learned at a young age that hard work, and determination could allow me to achieve anything I dreamed. I grew up in a household, where people would rather watch TV, smoke cigarettes, and never attempt anything to better them selves. To sit back, and to complain about what you don’t have, rather than going out and working for it was something that I just couldn’t understand.
My sister once made a comment that has stuck with me for many years. She claimed that I was trying to be some thing that I’m not by wanting to work hard and buy a home, provide for my kids, and one day, give them the ability to go to college. I realized after many years that she was jealous about my success. I work really hard to give my kids every opportunity, but I don’t spoil them. I believe and making them work, hard, be respectful, and ultimately just be a decent member of society.
When my sister decided to have children, she felt it was more important to smoke a pack of cigarettes, a day, rather than care for the health and the safety of her child. She didn’t change her eating habits, or do anything to ensure that the baby would be healthy. Soon after the baby was born, She had numerous signs of ear infections and respiratory problems. This was a direct result of my sister’s negligence as a pregnant mother.
Fast forward 20 years and her daughter decided she was going to get pregnant as well. Of course, repeating history, my niece was a smoker who not only smoke marijuana, but vapes and smokes marijuana. She felt it was more important to continue her disgusting habits and smoke throughout her pregnancy. When the baby was born, the nurses told her that her son was addicted to nicotine, and could potentially have issues. It doesn’t surprise me that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
I’ve come across a lot of people in my lifetime that have no desire to want to be an individual. I feel it’s so important to find your own identity and allow yourself to be who you want to be. If you want to live on a farm in have a simple life, that’s great. if you wanna be the executive of a company, you can do that too. Both of my parents worked paycheck to paycheck and never wanted anything more for themselves. That’s fine, because that’s who they chose to be. Me on the other hand, I wanted to strive for excellence. Internal excellence. I’m not here to impress anyone but myself. I work hard every day because I realize how much I don’t know so it’s important that I work a little harder to gain a little bit more knowledge to be better than I was the day before.