To put it into simple words, SAVE. The best financial advice I've ever received was from my dad way back when I started working. When I was younger, I was the type to always go around to my neighbors and ask them if I could work for them here and there; mow their lawns or etc. I would only probably make about 20$ a week because it wasn't every day that I could mow a lawn, I'd have to wait for it to grow at least. My dad would always tell me, "Even if you only save a penny a day, if you start saving now, you can become a millionaire someday." I have to say, while nowadays I'm not a millionaire, I've managed to save thousands of dollars just by resisting the urge to spend my money as soon as I get it. Some might say that the reason they don't like saving is because they want to put their money to use; they're not a natural saver; they'd rather buy this new thing that everybody has. To save it's not a matter of, "Oh, I'm not a natural saver.", or "Oh, I think I'll just buy this thing because it's in style." All saving really consists of self control. To save is to have self control on a daily basis telling yourself, I made this decision, and I want to save, I'm going to miss out on this now to ensure I'll have financial stability in the future. So the next time that you get paid, stop and think how much of this could I be saving for college or something constructive to help you in the future.

To put it into simple words, SAVE. The best financial advice I've ever received was from my dad way back when I started working. When I was younger, I was the type to always go around to my neighbors and ask them if I could work for them here and there; mow their lawns or etc. I would only probably make about 20$ a week because it wasn't every day that I could mow a lawn, I'd have to wait for it to grow after all. My dad would always tell me, Even if you only save a penny a day, if you start saving now, you can become a millionaire someday. I have to say, while nowadays I'm not a millionaire, I've managed to save thousands of dollars just by resisting the urge to spend my money as soon as I get it. Some might say that the reason they don't like saving is because they want to put their money to use; they're not a natural saver; they'd rather buy this new "thing" that everybody has. To save it's not a matter of, Oh, I'm not a natural saver, or Oh, I think I'll just buy this thing because it's in style. All saving really consists of is self control. To save is to have self control on a daily basis telling yourself, I made this decision, and I want to save, I'm going to miss out on this now to ensure I'll have financial stability in the future. So the next time that you get paid, stop and think how much of this could I be saving for college or something constructive to help you in the future.

In the surprising events leading up to the pandemic of 2020, the world was forced to change. In many ways the change was new, different, and some could say unconventional. But in the year of the pandemic, I found that I had more time to focus on myself and improve my own life as the world was shut down. Ever since I was a young child, I had always watched in wonder as rock-stars and musicians played incredible songs on their electric guitars and sang. After a couple months into the pandemic, I realized I needed to come up with some sort of hobby to spend my time, and so I bought my first guitar. When I first got it I knew close to nothing of how to play, but with all the time in the world to practice and play, I started to sound pretty good. I'd take my guitar to friends houses, family events, and even to school. All in all, yeah, the pandemic separated us from our daily lives quite a bit, but even in our pandemic world I managed to find something new I've always wanted to do and bless others with my talent.

Pressure, it's all around us in our everyday lives. The feeling that you need to live up to something or someone. The feeling that if you don't live up to these standards then something negative is going to happen. The feeling that if you're not good enough, you're going to be a burden on someone else. These are all things that I've had a real struggle with in my life growing up. I've always grown up in a household where I've been held to very high standards. My sisters both went to college with a 4.0 each, my brother getting an amazing job as an engineer right out of college. And then there's me, I haven't known where I'm supposed to go, what I'm supposed to do, I've just been living in the shadow of my siblings all through growing up it's felt like. However, within the last year, I've been able to put all that pressure to peace. I've finally decided that I don't need to hold myself to their accomplishments, and instead I can hold myself to my own aspirations and my own goals for my own life. I've finally found peace in that I'm not them and I shouldn't strive to be who they are when I can be myself. I learned that if I can pursue my own goals then I can just be a happier person in general. It's truly been a game changer for me to stop feeling bad that I don't live up to every single achievement that they've lived up to. I've now been able to put worth into myself, and give myself pride for my accomplishments instead of sorrow for not being able to do what they did. I've finally come to peace that I need to be, "ME".