Reading books has always been my preferred coping mechanism when I have a history of negative ones. For a long time, they offered me a safe space and allowed me to leave my current troubles behind. I could immerse myself in a magical fantasy land with characters I grew to love. One series had characters I connected with closely, who had flaws, made mistakes, and were so realistic despite it being a fantasy novel. Throne of Glass, written by Sarah J. Maas, holds a place in my heart and has helped me immensely when I needed it. When I was initially introduced to the world of Throne of Glass, I was experiencing many mental issues and was spiraling into a dark place in my life. I had extreme body dysmorphia and was close to developing an eating disorder. I would go days with only eating two things while also participating in very physically demanding school activities like dance and color-guard. This kept me unnaturally thin. Additionally, I was performing self-harm, and there was little people could say to convince me I did not deserve to hurt myself. It was a couple of years when there was no one I truly hated more than myself. Once introduced to the main character Aelin, she immediately caught my attention. She was the same age as me, and similar to me, her mental and physical health was essentially nonexistent. I could relate to her reactions to various events, understand her point of view, and see myself in her personality throughout the first two books. She had a strong attachment to people but always felt unworthy of their love or pushed people away. I did not realize the extent to which I did this until I looked at her and applied those same characteristics to myself. Only then did I see my self-destructive behavior. In the first two books, Aelin becomes better mentally and physically as she trains her body and establishes closer connections to those around her. I slowly started to incorporate this into my life as well. She did witness a friend's death and relapsed for a time, but it helped to remind me that mental breaks are common as long as the person can bounce back. In her succeeding few books, this is where Aelin truly helped me come back from my depressive episode. As she progressed through her story, she became a strong female lead and refused to allow her flaws to be used against her, a trait I desperately needed to incorporate into my life. She was a fiercely extraordinary character who learned to love herself, let people in, and allowed herself to rely on them without it diminishing who she was. I took these characteristics and applied them to my actions. Despite, originally, pretending to be her, I adopted her personality and became more confident in my own day-to-day life. Mimicking her self-love, love for others, and growth as a character; truly helped me pick myself up and improve myself as needed. Many of her quotes have stuck with me, but my favorite I constantly repeat when I feel myself reverting to who I was before I learned to love myself. Her confidently saying "I Am a God," reminds me I am more than I think I am. Her screaming "You Do Not Yield," reminds me I am strong, and despite failing, I will succeed. Her constant confirmation of "I Will Not be Afraid," reminds me to center myself and master my fears. Aelin may be a fictional character but in many ways, she saved me from me.

My name is Angelina Contreras, but I am commonly reffered to by my childhood nickname, Gigi. I grew up in an small house on the South side of Tucson, Arizona with my mom, dad, and younger brother. Despite being of lower economic-socio status, I did not feel inherently poor or recognize my family's struggles besides a few core memories from the time. Growing up, my family and I did not have many material things, but we did have our dogs. My mother adopted my Nana's love for animals, and despite not living a life of luxury, my dogs had been very loved. We eventually got a chihuahua named Muñeca, who was my favorite dog out of the three we had. Considering that we could not afford to keep the A.C. running during the day if the dogs were inside, they stayed outside with access to fresh food and water. The issue lay with the fact the dogs had free range of the entire yard, while my parents parked inside as well. I, having been the oldest child, had been tasked with the responsibility of opening the gate for my parents. I specifically remember us coming home from grocery shopping and having to open the gate for my mom. I am not entirely certain why that day was different, but Muñeca made the fatal mistake of running out in front of the car as my mother was coming into the yard. I have very little memory of the in-between, but I recall carrying her to my parents pleading for them to help her. My mom, hysterical and upset, told me they could not afford the care it would take to save her. It was between my brother's and my needs or her care, and my mom had to choose us. It was then, that I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian. It was then, that I realized I wanted to help families like mine, who loved their animals but could not afford the proper care for them. Looking at my future from where I am now, I want to run a veterinary practice. One specifically focused on pet care for low-income families and individuals. I do not want anyone forced to choose between a beloved furry family member or food on the table. Additionally, I want to run a practice that cares for its veterinarians. One that offers them emotional and mental support as the work they will be providing becomes taxing and often overwhelming. I do not want to be a typical medical faculty that sees their employees as a means to gaining money but instead, as a family unit that relies upon and trusts each other. One of the main factors I am concerned about is the stigma surrounding a woman owning a medical facility, despite women making up more than 50% of veterinarians. When discussing my future goals, many people have told me to think smaller and "more my level," for a woman does not have what it takes to run a business as I dream. As of now, I am proving those people wrong by attending a university, paying for it on my own, having three jobs related to pet care and business management, and doing all I need to get to where I want to be. Despite this possibly being too many goals for someone barely entering their sophomore year at the University of Arizona, I plan on working my hardest to make a difference to at least one person and one pet.

Having healthy eating habits not only contributes to how your body functions but it also helps clear and center the mind. Your mind helps the body, and your body helps the mind. Having terrible eating habits can lead to a person's declining mental health, and with declining mental health a person develops terrible eating habits. It is a vicious cycle that is very difficult to come out of once trapped. I have experience in this and once I started neglecting my eating habits my peace of mind went with it. In my high school years, I had gone through a period where my eating habits were the very opposite of healthy. I would force myself to eat the barest amount in the largest span of days. I often felt dizzy or sick if I ate more than two small meals a day, and felt like emptying my stomach if I somehow ate more than twice. From an outsider's perspective, I looked healthy. I was thin, flexible, active everyday through my school activities, but my mental health was at the lowest it had ever been. I hated how I looked, and despite being the ideal weight for my height and stature, I never felt good enough and had to be thinner. I had an extremely negative relationship with food and could not stand to be around it for long periods of time. The feeling of starving became a comfort to me and I could not stop this self-destructive behavior. Eventually it led to self-harming as it was a way to show my hatred for myself. Following the start of COVID, one of my close friends started to pick up on my eating habits, as we spent more time together. He would have me eat a small amount of food every time we went out and would supervise me to ensure I finished, despite me declining multiple times. He checked up on me everyday, asked if I ate something, and forced me to send pictures of a meal I had that day to prove I did. I remember hating his actions and not understanding why he was having me do this, since I "looked" fine and was now considered beautiful. He essentially saved my life with his constant monitoring of my habits. After about three or four months of this, I could feel the change of truly eating well and giving my body the nutrients it needed. When before, I would have break-downs every other day, I was now having them once every two weeks at most. I started caring about what happened to me, I wanted to go out and see things, not just lay in my bed all day on my phone. The only real thing that changed prior to this, was my eating habits. I was starting to fill out my curves, I could last longer in my favorite activities, I did not feel like fainting every time I stood up. There are still times when I find myself falling back into old habits, particularly when something negative happens to me. To counteract this, I try to focus on how I am doing now, mentally, as opposed to then. My eating habits have improved, and despite being more curvy and thicker, I feel more confident and love myself more now, than I ever have. Sometimes I do miss my old body but I would not sacrifice my mental state for that style of life. Going though what I had, allowed me to see the importance of healthy eating habits, as it contributes so much to mental health.

To own and run my own Veterinary Clinic to help families of lower socio-economic status be able to afford pet care. I want to make a difference for at least one family, because to that one family it will make all the difference.