Being a teenager means making mistakes, taking chances, and meeting challenges head on. The beautiful thing about this is that one can always learn from what they face so that they can grow and thrive later in live. At the ripe age of seventeen I have already faced adversities that a teen shouldn't have to worry about.

When I was 11 or 12, my father became unable to work. He had a bad case of gangrene; consequently, he had first his foot and then his leg up to his knee amputated. The stress of worrying whether or not my dad's body could come through so many surgeries was too much for me. Not to mention the economic repercussions of his disability. I fell into a deep depression at the young age of twelve and I became anxiety-ridden. The setback that my father faced had inevitably effected myself as well as my entire family. My depression and anxiety mixed with the common insecurities of a preteen had driven me to physically harm myself. As my dad's physical and mental health further diminished, my own had started to. I can still remember the smell of his infection and the way he described his "phantom pains".

Fast forward 3 years to 2015. Now my dad had been able to move around on his one leg, my mom was holding down 2 jobs, and everything seemed okay for the moment. Soon, everything came tumbling down: my dad was told that his kidney function was less that twenty percent. His reaction to the inevitability that he would have to go on dialysis was less than thrilled. It was terrifying to think of my dad laying on his death bed and unable to do things he normally would. I instantly became even more stressed.

In 2016, my dad died. Not only had his mother, my grandmother, pass away two weeks prior but he had died unexpectedly on an operating table at UK hospital. My grandmother died unexpectedly after being given amnesia for a simple operation. My dad died on July the 12th 2016, after being given "twilight sleep" - because he was afraid of the same fate as his mom - for a simple operation. This was the biggest setback of them all. November of that same year I attempted suicide. After years of dealing with my dad's health issues I found it unbearable to live with the fact that he died from something so minuscule. After this attempt didn't work I told my mom I wanted to kill myself. My mom sent me to the trillium center in Corbin, Kentucky. I went here a week before my 16th birthday. Here I spent 72 hours under behavioral evaluation, under 24 hour surveillance. To say the least, I learned a lot about myself - and the others in the trillium center - through this experience.

My goal is not to make anyone feel bad for me. My dad taught me to never let others see me as pitiful. My main goal in sharing this is to show that I have gone through a lot and I am still standing to tell the story. Today I am in a more peaceful state of mind. Today I stand a stronger and more understanding person. I am a smart student, an excellent leader to my younger siblings, and the epitome of someone who has faced challenges and came out on top. Through this experience, I learned that no matter what I face I have to be strong for those around me. I learned about myself and what I want to do in life as well. Through these experiences, I now believe that my sole purpose in life is to guide, lead, and teach adolescents. I intend on doing just that.