Praying. Talking with friends. Listening to music. Saying affirmations to myself. Social Media breaks. Journaling. The previously stated acts are forms of self-care that have become a daily habit for me in my journey of self-love and acceptance. These small, but powerful activities have allowed me to change my perspective towards my life, my beliefs, relationships, school, and aspirations on the account that I’m able to grow in my spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional well-being. To expand on my experience, prior to the self-care journey, I had fairly low confidence in myself, particularly in my abilities and talents, that I would often implant seeds of doubt in mind that I was already in a defeatist mindset before I was able to complete the task at hand. For example, when I was competing for a track meet, I would tell myself that I wasn’t good enough; as a result, I would perform poorly. However, once I began telling myself powerful affirmations such as “I’m a champion”, “I’m a winner”, “I’m amazing”, “Every day in every way, I’m getting better and better”; hence, my improvement in my self-confidence and performance that I was able to be secure in myself, my worth, and my abilities. Furthermore, these rebellious acts of loving myself have had a profound impact on my relationships with my body and my friends. When I realized that some aspects of life are uncontrollable and that I can only control my emotions and output in life, I started flourishing along with my relationships becoming stronger. For instance, when I realized that I had to love ALL parts of my body and know that I was created in this way for a special purpose, my self-confidence tremendously improved. I wasn’t worried about what to wear to make my legs thinner, what shirts to wear to make my chest appear bigger, and what shoes to wear to make my feet appear smaller, but rather I was learning how to love all my body parts. Additionally, when I voiced these concerns to my friends, we realized that we all shared the same worries about our bodies and that freely expressing these concerns lifted some weights off of our shoulders; thereby, strengthening our friendships. In essence, loving myself where that message isn’t entirely promoted all the time in our society has allowed me to break away and finally start soaring.

Sparking a change in a community has always been a pivotal motivation for me in search of my purpose, more specifically, as a contributing factor for my academic interests. With this said, I plan on majoring in Politics and International Affairs, minoring in Journalism, and ultimately obtaining a Juris Doctorate in Law which will allow me to make an impact on the social, political, and economical dynamics of society. Every day when viewing the news coverage on the ongoing horrible genocides, the continual deaths of murdered, innocent children, or the mistreatment of refugees seeking amnesty, I strongly believe that the knowledge and experience acquired will pursuing my majors will equip me with data intelligence that can be used to limit the global social inequities. For example, the use of political sanctions such as certain travel bans on corrupt states, freezes on assets and bank accounts, and limiting trade will minimize the severity of the weapons of war used by the terrorist groups such as ISIS; thereby, limiting the amounts of deaths ordered by these corrupt rebels and bringing justice to the unjust. The ability to make an elicit change is a fundamental element that must be taken into consideration to create basic human rights for certain groups. Thus my major in Politics and International Affairs will allow me to research and help create plans to address the above-stated global concerns. Furthermore, it will broaden my scope of not only helping society but will also help bring extra support for those individuals who have a higher probability of suffering due to demographics and social cleavages. Hence, African-Americans are more likely to be racially targeted. I believe that the knowledge that I will receive, both in the classroom and studies abroad, will allow me to make a difference in the quality of life for women globally but more importantly in the Democratic Congo, Maldives, and Syria as it is found that women in these countries are more susceptible to abuse. This makes me yearn for that same gratitude and selflessness one attains from achieving a goal of helping people for necessities such as basic indispensable human rights. To expand, this major will impact society as the Western world and media will finally have enough courage, bravery, and display empathetic as well as selfless acts towards those that are suffering in the Eastern world instead of ignoring the senseless acts that have shown in the past decades. The courses and seminars that this major offers will allow me to bridge a plethora of new ideas and relationships, spark pivotal conversations about controversial policies, and expand my views to more ambiguous perspectives on specific contentious law agreements. Take Nigeria for example, the age to consent for marriage is eleven years old. This single act of child-marriage is very detrimental to the little girls and young women being coerced into marriage. The life-altering changes to the young girls often result in abuse, anxiety, depression, health issues, and the list goes on. In essence, a young girl’s life is sacrificed without her consent as she has no voice, no freedom, no youth, and is manipulated as well as controlled by a predatory man. To summarize, I trust that the Politics International Affairs will allow fellow students and myself to legitimately make a promising change in our communities as well as internationally to help those who suffer from some sort of oppression or discrimination.

Sparking a change in a community has always been a pivotal motivation for me in search of my purpose, more specifically, as a contributing factor for my academic interests. With this said, I plan on majoring in Politics and International Affairs, minoring in Journalism, and ultimately obtaining a Juris Doctorate in Law which will allow me to make an impact on the social, political, and economical dynamics of society. Every day when viewing the news coverage on the ongoing horrible genocides, the continual deaths of murdered, innocent children, or the mistreatment of refugees seeking amnesty, I strongly believe that the knowledge and experience acquired will pursuing my majors will equip me with data intelligence that can be used to limit the global social inequities. For example, the use of political sanctions such as certain travel bans on corrupt states, freezes on assets and bank accounts, and limiting trade will minimize the severity of the weapons of war used by the terrorist groups such as ISIS; thereby, limiting the amounts of deaths ordered by these corrupt rebels and bringing justice to the unjust. The ability to make an elicit change is a fundamental element that must be taken into consideration to create basic human rights for certain groups. Thus my major in Politics and International Affairs will allow me to research and help create plans to address the above-stated global concerns. Furthermore, it will broaden my scope of not only helping society but will also help bring extra support for those individuals who have a higher probability of suffering due to demographics and social cleavages. Hence, African-Americans are more likely to be racially targeted. I believe that the knowledge that I will receive, both in the classroom and studies abroad, will allow me to make a difference in the quality of life for women globally but more importantly in the Democratic Congo, Maldives, and Syria as it is found that women in these countries are more susceptible to abuse. This makes me yearn for that same gratitude and selflessness one attains from achieving a goal of helping people for necessities such as basic indispensable human rights. To expand, this major will impact society as the Western world and media will finally have enough courage, bravery, and display empathetic as well as selfless acts towards those that are suffering in the Eastern world instead of ignoring the senseless acts that have shown in the past decades. The courses and seminars that this major offers will allow me to bridge a plethora of new ideas and relationships, spark pivotal conversations about controversial policies, and expand my views to more ambiguous perspectives on specific contentious law agreements. Take Nigeria for example, the age to consent for marriage is eleven years old. This single act of child-marriage is very detrimental to the little girls and young women being coerced into marriage. The life-altering changes to the young girls often result in abuse, anxiety, depression, health issues, and the list goes on. In essence, a young girl’s life is sacrificed without her consent as she has no voice, no freedom, no youth, and is manipulated as well as controlled by a predatory man. To summarize, I trust that the Politics International Affairs will allow fellow students and myself to legitimately make a promising change in our communities as well as internationally to help those who suffer from some sort of oppression or discrimination.