My Life Experiences
There have been many times in my life where I have realized that I am not prepared for the situations that I am about to face. The knowledge and experience that I have gained from being put through these situations has help me in many ways to become a better person and has allowed me to handle other mote difficult situations in better ways. Inexperience is something you start out with, but it is the experience that you gain throughout your life that defines who you are. My parents have always taught me to be disciplined, tolerant, patient, and understanding. These values have helped me through my life to become who I am today.
My father has always been tough, I mean he grew up in Butte Montana, he had to be. As a reflection of this he has always been tough on me. It didn’t matter what it was whether it was basketball, baseball, or in school he always pushed me to be the best I could be at whatever I was doing. I hated that he made me work so hard, the hours on the court after practice, the nights in the field getting balls hit at me from every direction, and all the times that he made me stay up late to study for school all for what seemed at the time such little progress. But now I see that every day he pushed me and every time he yelled at me, it wasn’t to make it hard on me on purpose. It was to make me better, to make me tougher, like him. I thank him every day for pushing me to be the best, to be tough physically and mentally, because otherwise I would not be who he has made me.
I have been taught tolerance not just from my immediate family but my entire family. They are a very crazy bunch when we all get together. Sometimes they go a little overboard. They can be very embarrassing because of the sense of humor that they have, and because of the way they like to have fun. I have had friends around and it was non-stop embarrassment. My aunt who isn’t the smartest person can’t tell the difference between an elk and a deer, so we brought out some of our hunting pictures and showed them to her. They kept teasing her with the pictures asking her which one was which. They also tell your friends embarrassing stories and secrets that you don’t want people to know. For example one time my other aunt was trying to get me ready to go to bed. I told her that I didn’t have to because “I’m Batman”. All my friends laughed so hard and it was embarrassing. But in the end they are family and I think that it is their job to make life fun, crazy, and unpredictable. My Grandma always says that you are who your family is and no matter what happens there is no way around it.
Finally I was taught understanding. When I was about 10 years old my parents got a divorce. This was very had and confusing time for me and my entire family. I had to be understanding of the situation that I was in. I was very little at the time, but I was still able to realize what my mom and dad were going through. With all the late night fights and the yelling I knew where things were heading. I was able to talk to them about it and I learned a lot from their mistakes and things that they have done. From them I learned that even though things are going bad between two people you should take the time to see things from the other persons point to view. I learned to be understanding of the people around me and how they feel about things that are happening to or around them.
Although I have had many times where I was pushed really hard, or embarrassed, or confused, I have been able to learn discipline, tolerance, and understanding, which many people have not been able to learn in the ways I have. These experiences that I have gone through have helped change and shape me into the person that I am today. From these I have also learned to believe that the experiences that we endure in our lifetime help us to become the people we are meant to be.