I live in a single-family. At age sixteen, my world had a dramatic change. I left everything behind in China to start a new life with my mother in United States. I moved from the place I grew up in to the city of Los Angeles, California for a better future.
My mother is the most important person in my life. She has inspired me to show the world that I can still learn from the mistakes I make no matter how bad they were. She always said life was going to be easier, but I wouldn’t see the positive side of their words. Ever since I started school in the United States . I knew that life was going to be a challenge. Because it was difficult for me to get used to my new life.
Not knowing English was my biggest fear, I felt useless. My days instead of being bright and positive were dark and full of negativity and disappointment. I felt like giving up and I even considered the idea of going back to China. Then, I remembered the place I grew up in, there wasn’t such thing as giving up. Before going to sleep I would set my thoughts together, some tears would roll down my cheeks for feeling lost. All I wanted was to discover and start on my future path and staying strong was my only option.
In my early teenage years there were so many wrong decisions I could have made. Young kids were being negatively influenced. I was brave enough to stay away from them, because my mother always taught me the good and the bad things of life. Deep inside me I wanted something different; I wanted to feel good about myself without making the wrong decisions. I wanted to be successful in life. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but I wanted to stay positive and more because I wanted to make my mother proud. Ever since I was little I was always interested in a good future and education, but my community was a distraction and would affect my goals by the people that were surrounding me. They had different goals in mind. It was a challenge staying positive while being surrounded with negativity.
I learned from other people’s mistakes to never give up on my education and dreams. Keeping my goals and aspirations was what I wanted to accomplish. My mother has always been strict and supportive. She is a big motivation in my life and inspired me to be strong. She is standing behind me on my positive decisions in life and confronting me on the negative ones. Her expectations and beliefs made me choose the right decisions towards my future.
My new lifestyle was a challenge, but a motivation at the same time. It was the best example to guide me through on the new adventures and knowledge I was looking for. I had my mother support with me and inspirations for my future. I will always remember all of the encouragement that she gave me. One day I will be able to give the same support and encouragement to my kids as they grow up.