Sometimes I’m scared of how fast time goes by, how each day I get older and older, with that weird feeling that I haven’t been able to accomplish much of the things that I had planned. Sometimes this sudden realization of how fast everything happens makes me want to cherish each moment even more. It sometimes makes me become motivated to do certain things since I know that it will all be worth it in the end, an “end” that is not so far from where I currently am, something that will be accomplished by the amount of time and effort put into it. These bursts of motivation often occur when I start realizing that I may not have enough time to just act like I don’t have much to do when in reality I have to do so much more than I thought in order to achieve my goals and not fall behind. Life moves on too fast and as you try to keep up with it and all the changes that it brings, you should try to enjoy the moments as much as you can, enjoy the little things, and the little moments you spend with family and friends. Although trying to keep up with everything that is changing throughout life, it's extremely difficult for someone that has anxiety. This is something that could impact one’s life in a very negative way, why? Well, basically, anxiety can lead to someone to react in different ways in difficult situations, most of the time missing many great opportunities or missing events that could be significant. According to The Recovery Village on “How Can Anxiety Impact One’s Life?”, they state that “One of the main symptoms of anxiety is rumination, which is overanalyzing negative feelings or thoughts. Rumination can cause mental exhaustion, distract people from their work and lead people to feel paranoid about their words, actions or relationships with other people.” (The Recovery Village, 2021). Most of the time, when someone gets exhausted mentally, they tend to miss many social events, become more aware of the things that they say or if they say it correctly. Taking me as an example, the times I get socially anxious I say things out of order and after saying the things is when I start realizing that I have messed up. Having social anxiety has been a thing that has affected me throughout my whole life. It’s sometimes overwhelming having to deal with this, but it’s also an obstacle that I have to learn how to keep avoiding every time that it tries to make me stumble. It’s not an easy path through life when there is something that keeps getting in the way. The path could get really rough, sometimes making me believe that I wouldn't be able to achieve the things that I have planned, making me want to give up after seeing how I haven’t had much progress. Even after having many obstacles throughout my life, knowing that everything is going by too fast I try to do my best to continue and have better progress through everything that I do. Whenever I lose motivation, I start thinking about what led me to try to accomplish my goals and then think about what will be my award at the end of my accomplishments. As I get older I know many things will become more difficult, meaning that I have to continue putting the best effort into everything that I do so that I get accustomed to these obstacles; an obstacle that will not prevent me from getting to the top.

I’m interested in pursuing a degree in STEM because I find it quite interesting and also a great opportunity to learn more about technology. I’m currently trying to pursue a career in Civil Engineering and although it has been a bit underwhelming, I believe that it will all be worth it in the end and it will allow me to succeed in life. Through this career, I hope to accomplish many things, such as learning everything that can benefit me in my future, be able to put everything I learn to practice, be able to find a nice job in which I would be able to succeed due to the amount of effort I put into it and due to everything that I learned while pursuing the degree. It’s going to be a long path until I accomplish my goals but while I put all of my effort then I know that things will turn out better than I expect. I like having the idea that many positive things will come out of everything that I have done. I like being optimistic about my future and my goals. It's something that has been on my mind continuously, trying to make a better future for myself and for the people around me. I want to show others that I am capable of doing a lot of things by myself, and many of those things are the most important part of my life. I want to demonstrate that being a woman in STEM is a huge accomplishment already, it’s something that makes me feel proud, something that brings joy to me and gives me motivation to continue going through this difficult path. Something that gives me motivation to continue pursuing my degree in STEM is the statistics when it comes to comparing how many women and men are in the field. There is a huge gap between men and women in this field. According to The American Association of University Women (AAUW), they state that around “38% of women who major in computers work in computer fields, and only 24% of those who majored in engineering work in the engineering field.”. Women often face many challenges when trying to work in a STEM field. It can be tough to have better opportunities or rise above the stereotypes or discrimination in this field, but it isn’t impossible. It’s something that women are slowly working on and improving, overcoming the odds and the many disadvantages that we face as women. There are many times in which women are looked down upon for just being a woman, making us seem as if we are not capable enough to be experts in such fields. In fact, “Harmful gender stereotypes perpetuate the myth that boys are inherently more talented in STEM subjects—which can continue into adulthood and the workplace. The stereotypes lead coworkers, bosses, and upper management to take women’s technical expertise and ideas less seriously.” (Valarie Romero 2018). While constantly seeing the amount of discrimination that women face when trying to pursue a career in a STEM field, it motivates me to become someone eligible to be a role model, become someone who can show others that women are capable of doing many things that men can do, and are capable of doing it better than them. Throughout this career, I want to be able to understand many different skills that could help me become successful, find jobs in whatever field within STEM and continue to succeed through life. It will be a difficult process, but I know I will be able to accomplish it.