My father wasn't in my life, but my mom always has been and practically raised me on her own. My dad was abusive mentally and physically; he wasn't ready for a kid and stayed out of my life for that reason and many others. Although, my mom still tried to give me the best childhood she could. I started modelling and taking interest in performing arts at a very young age. I was raised to be artsy and creative; truly being myself in every way I could. Since then I have participated in musicals, plays, art classes, writing and making crafts/art pieces. For few years now if I have ever been torn down or sad I wrote poetry. Poetry has played a huge part in my life and has even helped me express my feelings when I couldn't. History: past events connected with someone or something. If i haven't had my current interests or gone through what I have in the past I wouldn't be the 'Sierra' I am today. Going through bad things have made me emotionally strong and understanding of others problems; I have become less selfish. Plus, the past opportunities I have been given have made my self esteem grow. I didn't have a high self esteem before and was very unhappy but because of the chances given to me I am so much more happy.
Over the past year I've had health problems that I still don't have the answer for. I shake quite frequently with out any explanation, get migraines everyday, see spots in my eyes, get over heated and light headed and recently passed out. I've had to get an two MRI's this summer due to these health issues (passing out was quite recent) and they said I have spots on my brain. They still don't know what's wrong but I have had the best support from not only my family but from a dear, close, friend. Without having people in my life who love me I probably would have broken down, like I have done before.
Currently, my family is a middle class family. My mom worked hard to get where we are as a single mother, and had no help from anyone to get there. When I was little we didn't have the best income, and lived in small apartments. That never held us back though. Hard work and dedication from my mom got us in a happy living situation now.
In the community I live in now I participate in many activities but NJHS is definitely a big one. Overall, I think doing community service would continue to build me as a person and be more appreciative of all I have. I live in a world that still has sexism and racism, but I try to play an active roll on expressing my feelings on those issues. I am a proud feminist and even try to spread all kinds of issues of the world on my Tumblr blog.
Rewinding a few years back I said my father didn't play the role quite right in my life. The first time he let, he left with anger problems, and addictive behavior. He came back when I was about 9 years old and tried to once again be the father figure. He built trust and even though he still had some of his old bad habits he was mostly forgiven for the past. That all changed when he left AGAIN when I was 12 years old to Australia and got married secretly. Trust and hope was replaced with anger and sadness. My self esteem dropped and so did my happiness. Everything was downhill, and I went to therapy. That played a big role in my life. I was depressed and thought I didn't deserve any goodness in my life. I had the worst confidence and started some bad habits. I hate myself for a very long time. I think overall that part in my life has made me into the more confident and happier person I am today. I, since then, have met some amazing friends and specifically have one person in my life that truly changed my view on everything, so I am truly glad it happened. I saw my father for the first time in 2 years recently. It made me realize how much I've grown and I am happy now even though I know that I will probably never have the father/daughter family relationship, I always have my mom and her boyfriends family to guide me in the right direction and give me love.