The Journey Called My Life

“ A philosophical journey on the track of life is what I call my place in this world.” (Laurie, 2006, p. 6). I perceive my own life life as a journey. What does it mean to take a journey? Journey is the act of traveling from one place to another, in life that is all that we do. Growing up in a world so unknown made me see how much of a journey my life really is. Here is a brief look into the Journey Called My Life. I was born August 17, 1982 in Indianapolis, Indiana. I was raised solely by my mother. I am the oldest of three girls. Our household consisted of four lovely ladies ready to take on the world. We didn 't have the typical family structure (mom, dad, and kids), but we did have a lot of love and support. Throughout my childhood we moved around the city a lot. My mom is what many would call a modern day gypsy. I wasn 't sure what the main reason for the countless moves, but it was hard to get adjusted to only find out we would be moving again. Since my parents didn 't live together, I only spent time with my dad on the weekends. Due to the separate paths that my parents took I ended up with two families. My family with my mom and sisters and my family with my dad and step mom, both families made me the person I am today. That was fine with me because it was like getting the best of both worlds. As a young girl having two of everything was wonderful. I had one at each house. I didn 't really go on many family vacations growing up, but the one vacation that I can remember was going to Disney World with my grandma. Going on my first vacation was a great adventure. Flying on an airplane was scary and exciting all at once. I remember crying on take off, but then I was glued to the window the rest of the flight admiring the wonderful sights. We had such a wonderful time. Growing up was not always fun times. My mother normally worked several jobs in order to keep the household afloat. Being the oldest meant I had to take care of my sisters when my mother was away. Since I spent so much time with my sisters I had to be a good role model. My sisters were young and impressionable, so whatever I did they would do. This is called observational learning (Witt & Mossler, 2010 p. 70). For example if I cleaned up the kitchen and washed the dishes my mom would give me five dollars. So to get five dollars also my sisters started to clean areas of the house without being told in order to get my mom to give them money. I would make dinner, comb their hair, and get them ready for bed. Spending so much time with my sisters was very good for me. We would watch track & field on the weekends, this made me have a desire to want to run. As my teen years started to approach, my journey lead me to a scare place called high school. I was only fourteen and didn 't know what to do in this new place. I was going through stage five of Erik Erickson 's psychosocial development: Identity vs. role confusion. I was I was trying to develop a sense of self and personal identity (Witt & Mossler, 2010 p. 53). So to take my mind off the chaos of this new place I went out for the track team. The theory of nature vs. nurture played a major role in me being a good athlete(Witt & Mossler, 2010 p. 82). It was in my nature because my mother was an all American sprinter in high school and college. I was nurtured by my coaches and my teammates, so I was more than just a sprinter I was a hurdler. Running track was an escape from a lot of negative things that sometimes come along with high school. High school also brought along other things that I consider milestones in my life like dating. My first date was with a guy from the boy 's track team,of course! We went on a double date to the bowling alley, so much fun. High school was also the place I learned to drive a car. After hundreds of dollars and many of hours later I finally got my drivers license. Naturally after getting my license I looked forward to getting my first car. In my case I got two. The first was from my dad, since my mom didn 't want to feel out done she bought me one too! With graduation quickly approaching I didn 't have a need for two cars. I sold the one my dad brought me, and used the money to help with college expenses. After high school came to an end, I went to college at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Along with college came a lot more activities that I was not sure I was ready for like sex, drugs, and alcohol. There was so much going on that it was easy for a girl to get lost in the madness. I partied Thursday- Sunday, and would squeeze studying in where ever I could. There was no wonder why my campus experience didn 't last long. I only attended for one year. I got homesick and wanted to come home. I talked it over with my mom and agreed it was okay to come home as long as I enrolled in school when I got back. As I agreed I enrolled at Marion College and began working at Arby 's. Few months later I found out I was going to have a baby, and my journey was turning to a new destination: Parenthood. Now with motherhood staring me in the face college would have to take the back burner to my family. I had a son in August of 2001. Things didn 't work out with me and my son 's father and I, so by my son 's second birthday we ended our relationship. This was a period of my life that I was going through a transformational change. I was facing significant issues in my life closely related to my love life. Transformational change is broken down in to stages: experiencing dilemma, self examination, critical assessment, recognizing that others have been in my place before, exploring a process, formulating a plan, and lastly reintegration (Alexander, Clugston, & Trice, 2010 p.131). I went through this process and the outcome was moving on from my son”s father. Not much longer after that I ran into my old high school crush, and lets just say things took off from there. I know we did things out of traditional order, but they worked out grand for us. First we had a daughter in January of 2006, then we bought our first house in November 2009, and finally we will say “I Do” September 2010. Planning a wedding can be very stressful, but I am working hard to keep my stress level low during this extremely busy time of my life. Just like going to college I have to manage my time wisely and have active support from friends and family in order to manage my stress while planning for my big day (Witt & Mossler 2010 p.116). In order to have a successful happy life you must have goals long and short term. Goals are very important part of getting to any point in your life. I write down my short and long term goals and keep them in a place were I can see them daily. I call them my treasure map. The outcome of following my map will lead to me reaching my goals which I consider the ultimate treasure. Now that I have my own family there are things that I would like to accomplish for me and my family. I want to make sure that my kids understand the value of a college education. In todays times you cant get far without one. In order to teach this them this, I must finish college for myself. This is the reason I started taking online courses at Ashford. Going to school online is a different experience from the traditional classroom. A few things that I had to learn was adapting to the Internet learning environment. I am currently in the process of making the Internet work for and not against me. This is a example of how I want to my kids to model pro-social behavior. If they see me complete college they are more likely to do so (Witt & Mossler, 2010 p.19). I want to have a career where I will be able to help adults get over things that my be troubling in their lives. Finally before I am forty-five I would like to have a masters degree in the field of psychology. What I will do with it, I am not quite sure but I do know getting it it is a major step on my journey. As long as I stay focus and follow my map there is no limit to what I can do. My journey in this thing called life is far from over. I have no clue what stops will be made along the way. I do know that I will make the most of all the sites I come in contact with along the way.

References
Alexander, Mary. Clugston, Wayne. & Tice, Elizabeth. (2010). Learning online and Achieving Life Long Goal. Ashford University: Discovery Series
Lurie, Yuval. (2007). Tracking the Meaning of Life : A Philosophical Journey. Retrieved from

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/docDetail.action
Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A. (2010). Adult Development and Life Assessment. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/AUPSY202.10.1

References: Alexander, Mary. Clugston, Wayne. & Tice, Elizabeth. (2010). Learning online and Achieving Life Long Goal. Ashford University: Discovery Series Lurie, Yuval. (2007). Tracking the Meaning of Life : A Philosophical Journey. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/docDetail.action Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A. (2010). Adult Development and Life Assessment. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/AUPSY202.10.1