Being firstborn means expectations, pressure, and anxiety in almost every aspect. I am the firstborn female in my Cuban-American family since the immigrated to the United States. I recall vividly my first day of Pre-Kindergarten; the beginning of my educational career, with tight pigtails and a big backpack, knees trembling. As a 4 year old girl I could already feel my parents' expectations of my success, I felt as if they relied on me. I felt a certain responsibility being the first generation in my family to receive a full education. It was as if my parents were reliving their childhood through me. Little did I know this was only the beginning of my story. In elementary school, I remained a straight-A student. Some B's here and there because of the occasional math test. I would come home to my father's cooking to hear him tell me the same phrase he says every day, "Remember Alexandra, your only responsibility is to attend school and succeed, we will take care of the rest". I was very fortunate to be blessed with parents that prioritized my education and supported me. I would sit down in my kitchen table, legs dangling, take out my big math book, scatter my colored pencils, and start counting with my fingers. I continued to be successful throughout elementary school, earning student of the moth, honor roll every quarter, and all of the certificates and trophies at the end-of-year ceremony. When starting middle school, I felt taken back to my first day of Pre-Kindergarten, scared, pressure-driven, and with expectations from myself and my parents. I now was starting to become more conscious of the world around me. This is when my mentality began to change. I realized that I fully relied on validation from my parents and educators in order to feel good. I never thought about being successful for myself, and I now had to find some kind of intrinsic motivation to continue my usual work ethic. The first day of school sitting in my first period, it felt like my body caved in on itself, my stomach dropped, and I felt the most overwhelmed I had ever felt in my life. The expectations from my family had destroyed my mental health in the matter of seconds. I struggled with anxiety due to expecting so much from myself, and struggled with fitting in. Even though I live in Miami; a melting pot of cultures , when it came to trying to fit in to a certain group in school, I had a hard time. I was a Cuban-American girl with a passion for both science and the fine arts. I soon realized it was not necessary to fit in, but instead to fit in with myself and my idea of who I would become, anything else was unimportant. Even now, in high school, I don't necessarily fit into any clique. I have made goals for my future in order to not only make my family proud, but to feel fulfilled with myself. Practicing mindfulness and having in-depth conversations with my parents has helped me understand the way I think. I now have motivation to come home and give my education 110% effort. Being a first-born daughter and having a smaller brother changed my life. My parents saw me as another parent, I had to assume responsibility for my brother and educate him in almost every way possible. Even though my parents did their best, due to the gap in generations and the rapid popularization of technology, I understood many things that they did not. I did my brothers elementary school online homework for years, I taught him how to make connections, be social, and I would lay side by side with him at night talking about anything we could imagine; from politics, to aliens, to existentialism. Even though we had an age gap of four years, nothing stopped us from coming together and relating when it comes to problems of the modern world such as social media, cyberbullying, and online school. And as expected, we were polar-opposites. He never found much interest in school and was much more arts-oriented. What was surprising to me was that my parents expectations for him were nowhere near as close to their expectations for me. I found this frustrating. I came home with A's and B's and would get a pat on the back, while he came home with C's and D's and was just told to work harder. With time, I realized why things were like this. One's academic performance defines other's expectations for you. Being the oldest also means I get all the firsts. First boyfriend, first car, first graduation, first credit card, etc. I was the guinea pig for all of my parents' whims. Going through everything with them has strengthened our bond and taught me so much. From basically becoming a parent to finding myself, being a first born has definitely shaped me into the person I am today. Even with all of the headaches and anxiety, I wouldn't be as a successful as I am without them. Even now as a junior in high school, I continue to feel the pressure of my parents' expectations; however, I have learned how to analyze why I feel these emotions and I am now more mindful as a result. My emotional intelligence has improved, my communication skills, and even my parenting/mentoring skills. Sometimes it is helpful to think of one's hardships as an opportunity to learn, to grow, and to become stronger. I believe that it is important to take each hardship as an opportunity to show the world how strong you truly are.