To All the Strengths and Weaknesses Who Made Me the Person I am Today

My entire life I have always been a very compassionate and understanding individual. I have always been a person that people can rely on to go to about their problems and give my honest opinion. When my best friend Brianna came to me to talk about her relationship problems she knew she came to the right person. Her boyfriend at the time Sean was getting involved in drugs and alcohol and she did not know what to do, she had been dealing her feelings pulling her in many different directions. Brianna didn't know whether she should stay and help him with his substance abuse or leave, no matter how much she loved him she just didn't know what to do anymore. At first I felt upset that Brianna was in a situation where she felt like she had to stay or else he would cause harm to himself. After hearing her talk more about his situation I told her she shouldn't stay in a toxic relationship because she's scared of what would happen to Sean, her happiness should be the deciding factor in which she would stay with him or leave him. The more we talked, I helped her decide that ultimately the best decision would be to break up with him no matter how hard it would be for the both of them. After breaking up, she was very sad that his substance abuse had ruined her relationship but I helped her realize that the decision she made was for the best and that she would be glad not to be in an unhealthy relationship like that. Months later she is much happier to be out of that relationship and has realized never to stay in one like that.

When I was about seven years old my parents decided to separate officially. My entire life my dad has never lived with my mom, siblings, and I yet we would always do family things together like going out to dinner and vacations every year. I never realized that not every family was like that and that mine was just special, I never knew anything different. After school one day, my mom came up to me and told me that her and my dad would not be together anymore. Being at such a young age where I didn't understand what was happening, I thought it meant I would never see my dad again which wasn't the case. I began to cry, I did not want my family to be split up. I never thought that would happen to us. I was lost and confused on how this was going to change my life. I was upset at the fact that we wouldn't be doing things as a family like going to Universal Studios or go to the White Mountains which was my favorite thing to do as a family. For months and even years it was a new transition which I hated, my mom got a boyfriend and my dad started dating a different woman. I absolutely despised what was happening in my life. Seeing my parents with different people made me mad and at times I would cry myself to sleep as I felt like it was my fault that they weren't together anymore. Even though my siblings were older, it still affected them also but thankfully I always had them to rely on. As I grew up, I started understanding why it happened and that not every marriage works out. Even though they are no longer together, we will always be a family.

To harness my strengths, I prefer talking to my friends and family. Whenever we talk I feel like they just come through naturally, especially when they are talking about a problem or a situation they're in. I have been told that I give great advice and that I am nonjudgmental when people open to me. Even though at time I am judgmental I try to hold back because I am not in their position and would not want to pretend like I know what they're going through. I also take time to self reflect, I try to take about five minutes a day to think about what I did right and what I need to work on to be the person I want to eventually become. I have grown and become a better person but am definitely not who I want to be. I like to be by myself and listen to music while I think about what I need to improve on but also take time to realize that I will not become that person overnight and there are a lot of thing that I am doing well on and need to keep improving such as being more compassionate and being more friendly towards other individuals at times. At times I'm my biggest enemy but never fail to realize that I am also a good person who is trying her best to improve every single day.