By Eduardo Sagastume
In a flash, my adolescence went by and I had to choose what I was going to make myself out to be. I’ve thought profoundly and it felt as if only two possibilities came to fruition. It was either go to college and study something of use or work a 9-5 job, for possibly the rest of my life.
It was suddenly my senior year in high school--over a long year and a half--I was able to lose over 95 pounds. This journey led me to open a locked door filled with possibilities and I’ve landed on becoming a United States Army soldier.
Crazy right? How can I just choose to join the military by losing weight?
It goes deeper than that of course, I have always had low self-esteem, low confidence, and social problems that I want to work on. It amazes me how someone can just go up to a single person or even a group of people and just mingle. Don’t even get me started on the ladies, that is like trying to breathe underwater, it’s impossible.
I feel as if the army will strip me out of my comfort zone and push me into being more confident. That feeling I get when meeting new people will be gone, I will be able to handle stress better, and I will finally feel comfortable talking to others.
Maybe it seems like such a huge step into improving myself but I want a challenge. I’m sick of being this destructive self that I have made myself into.
I also need time away from people, I’m not inspired by the ones around me. The same routine of just talking about things we want to do is destructive and that’s putting me into a cage. It is not allowing me to grow into my full potential.
Even if it is for a while, I want to be independent, and experience being alone and learn to value myself and the people I love around me in a grander fashion. Perhaps, inspire them to be the best version of themselves as well.
I not only want to aid myself, I want to be able to provide for my family. We are not ideal financially but we get by. My mother’s tired eyes are breaking my heart, she works so hard for me and I will take some of the weight from her shoulders and put it on mine.
She has raised six kids alone and always provided for us, she put in her work, she deserves to be lazy. That will make me happier than I have ever been up to this point, I want to give her the world, but it won’t come easy. I’m willing to struggle for my family's sake.
All in all, I just want to have a sense of pride like anything before. I will stay humble, and learn to embrace the struggle, for I would be happier to struggle and achieve my goals than setting my dreams aside and doing the norm and getting nowhere.
I won’t stop there, once I reach my goal, I’ll set a bigger one, and a bigger one, and then a bigger one. I will be the person I have always wanted to be, and I have just taken the first steps. I’ll be seeing myself successful in 20 years, can you say the same?
In a flash, my adolescence went by and I had to choose what I was going to make myself out to be. I’ve thought profoundly and it felt as if only two possibilities came to fruition. It was either go to college and study something of use or work a 9-5 job, for possibly the rest of my life.
It was suddenly my senior year in high school--over a long year and a half--I was able to lose over 95 pounds. This journey led me to open a locked door filled with possibilities and I’ve landed on becoming a United States Army soldier.
Crazy right? How can I just choose to join the military by losing weight?
It goes deeper than that of course, I have always had low self-esteem, low confidence, and social problems that I want to work on. It amazes me how someone can just go up to a single person or even a group of people and just mingle. Don’t even get me started on the ladies, that is like trying to breathe underwater, it’s impossible.
I feel as if the army will strip me out of my comfort zone and push me into being more confident. That feeling I get when meeting new people will be gone, I will be able to handle stress better, and I will finally feel comfortable talking to others.
Maybe it seems like such a huge step into improving myself but I want a challenge. I’m sick of being this destructive self that I have made myself into.
I also need time away from people, I’m not inspired by the ones around me. The same routine of just talking about things we want to do is destructive and that’s putting me into a cage. It is not allowing me to grow into my full potential.
Even if it is for a while, I want to be independent, and experience being alone and learn to value myself and the people I love around me in a grander fashion. Perhaps, inspire them to be the best version of themselves as well.
I not only want to aid myself, I want to be able to provide for my family. We are not ideal financially but we get by. My mother’s tired eyes are breaking my heart, she works so hard for me and I will take some of the weight from her shoulders and put it on mine.
She has raised six kids alone and always provided for us, she put in her work, she deserves to be lazy. That will make me happier than I have ever been up to this point, I want to give her the world, but it won’t come easy. I’m willing to struggle for my family's sake.
All in all, I just want to have a sense of pride like anything before. I will stay humble, and learn to embrace the struggle, for I would be happier to struggle and achieve my goals than setting my dreams aside and doing the norm and getting nowhere.
I won’t stop there, once I reach my goal, I’ll set a bigger one, and a bigger one, and then a bigger one. I will be the person I have always wanted to be, and I have just taken the first steps. I’ll be seeing myself successful in 20 years, can you say the same?