Gladis Belloso
February 12, 2015 

English 84 6122

                                     

                                                             Everyday Heroes

      I remember when I was 16 years old, and I was so despondent at the fact that my life was such a mess at a young age. High school was a joke to me, my parents had divorced, and my only way to escape all this crap was by doing drugs. I really wanted to find that bit of solace in my life, but by doing that I was slowly regressing to nowhere.  I had continued to feel this way until one night, my older sister Flor, came up to me crying her eyes out. She wanted me to be happy and to do well in school. She was worried that the depression I was going through was going to lead me into committing suicide. She was so concerned of where I was standing in life. By that time, I didn't really care where I was standing in life momentarily, I just wanted to get over all the traumatizing experience that went down with my parents. But that night looking straight at my sister’s eyes made me finally realize that I had trashed my youth when I could have done something way better with myself. That night I remember falling into my knees and crying like I've never cried before. I remember thinking to myself that I was tired of living this life I had. I wanted to change not only for myself, but also for the ones that truly love me and wanted to see me become a renewed Gladis. I finally felt free from that misery and decided to reconstruct my life little by little. It was a challenge, but I gave it a shot. I started with putting effort in school and trying to raise all my grades up because I was failing almost all my classes. Then, I began to go to church again because I owe it all to God. He gave me the strength to pick myself up and start new. Going to church helped me forgive my father for abandoning us when we needed him the most, and just by doing that a huge weight was lifted away from me. I was euphoric for once in my life and I will never forget these words my sister told me, " When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place. Stay strong Gladis."