At Your Own Pace… This I Believe!

This I Believe…

I know fifteen year olds who have a vocabulary of a twenty year old, thirty year olds who start unnecessary riots and fight over men, forty year olds who like to argue (men and women) when they make absolutely no sense. Growing up was very tough for me, it seemed like I was always behind my age group for some reason. I never thought of it as age just being a number or even telling myself that I would get it one day by catching up with the crowd. I am the youngest of five children and the oldest is older by twenty-two years and as of today since I feel as though I have matured so much over the years I sometimes feel as though I am older than at least two of the five of us. Even though at sixteen and seventeen years old I felt as though I should have been on a higher level than I was; taking school more serious than anything, focusing on college, getting, my grade point average up, doing more house duties, getting used to becoming an adult…etc. Instead I was still being taken to school almost every day by my mother, skipping class and chasing the negative crowd, whining when I was told to do house duties, it was just awful for me especially always being desperate of having friends.

By me experiencing such a backwards time of my life and noticing so much immaturity and maturity through different age groups, I have grown to believe “People grow at their own pace, and should only grow at the pace they know how.” I have been doubted plenty of times and most times I have only doubted myself; I honestly never imagined my doing even half of the things I do today. As I quoted in the beginning of my essay, I whined about things as simple as doing house duties and I had the easiest chores ever—dump the bathroom trash and sweep the steps. It took me a few years after my mothers death to mature but I now cook dinner, mop, do dishes (I always hated that, so I know she is proud), go to school, work two jobs, hang by myself most of the time, I am just a total opposite person I used to be or thought I would ever be. Whenever I look into the mirror I give the biggest smile because I am more than proud of whom I have become today. If it were up to me, I would have never based the eligibility to drink on age because I have finally realized that age is really only a number and if it were based on your maturity rate “I believe” there would be less violence and murders by drunken drivers. Sometimes I feel as though some people really need to grow up but then I think to myself, ‘How can I judge them and I and I am just getting started myself?’ By getting started I mean just at twenty-one I am realizing what I should and should not regret, what I should change and keep about myself to be a better person, and last but not least to learn to accept people no matter their type of personality.

If there is one thing I definitely disagree with, it would have to be the thought of people judging other people. Even though there are some people who do some pretty irrelevant things I feel as thought you should not judge a person if you only go by either what you hear or what you assume. Everyone grows at their own pace so there for you cannot judge a person by what you know about them on the outside or even what you may hear. At one point of my life peoples opinions used to bother me more than anything, I could never seem to go by own judgments for some reason. I know it may seem very say but I honestly do not remember everything my mother had ever taught me, but the one thing I will never forget is that she never put me down or told me I would never become anything in life. It’s like she knew I was only growing at the pace I knew how and that’s what I did. I really believe it made me become a damn good person and I don’t think I could ever love myself more. I have built onto the person I have been over the years and am able to feel myself continuing to build even more. Thanks to only growing at the pace I knew how and desperately wanting to be a better person, maybe one day as strong and wise as my own mother once stood. With these beliefs I have made more progress than anything and learned to be more open with myself and others which I absolutely agree with. Even though I graduated high school, thank GOD for that, I was still behind for a long time. You’d be surprised what a close death could do to a person.