When I was young, I would argue with my brother about who got to sit in the passenger seat of our car. We would often race to the car, trying to get there first so that we could claim the passenger seat. One day when we were with our father, I had gotten to the seat first and had gladly claimed it. My brother was, of course, upset and asked for the seat on the way back. I sat and contemplated this as my father watched me. I had gotten the seat a few times in a row at this point, and I knew how much my brother would appreciate it if I just gave the seat up to him right there and then. I told this to my brother and he gladly sat in the highly coveted seat. After this had taken place, my father conveyed how proud he was of me for doing this. He told me that he could see that I was putting myself in my brother's shoes, contemplating how my decisions and actions would affect him. I have always remembered this moment, and since then I have found that this is a great skill that I possess. I believe my best skill is empathy and compassion. All throughout my life, I have found that I am very good at putting myself in other people's shoes and trying to understand perspectives that are different from my own. In order to improve this skill, I will start friendly debates with people and exchange ideas and opinions with them. When I do this, I try to understand their opinions and their thoughts by asking and learning about them. I talk to people about what they are feeling and thinking, and I learn how to better acknowledge others' experiences.

I was raised with the belief that others' needs should come before my own. I was taught that anything done for yourself, even the smallest of things, was selfish and unnecessary. Because of this, I adopted the ideology that I was not worth as much time, effort, or respect as others. This led me to neglect myself and my needs and preferences in my life. I catered to anything and everything anyone asked of me and I found it impossible to say, "No," to set up boundaries, or to assert my own opinions. Recently, life circumstances and some tough situations have led me to completely reconsider who I am and how I live my life. I saw the impact of what this people-pleasing attitude can do to a person. I saw how it impacted me, watching other people close to me sacrifice my well-being for others. Seeing this completely changed my perspective about how I should be treated and respected and how I should treat myself. While living the life of the people-pleaser, I denied myself and my true character; who I was, what I like, the opinions that I had, etc. Once I was able to break free from this way of thinking, I started to actually discover who I was and what "got me up in the morning." What motivates me every day is myself. I am motivated by discovering myself, by working towards the goals that I have set for my life, and by finding out who I truly am without the assistance of others. I am on a journey to discovering the real me, the strong, bold, beautiful me, that isn't concerned with what people think. I am motivated by my strength and my heart and by all of the things that have led me here.

Making others feel comfortable, taken care of, and loved, is one of my top priorities in my life. In fact, I have committed myself to this way of life so much that I have decided to major in nursing, where my entire career will revolve around helping others and hopefully, making them feel loved. To make my friends, family, and people around me feel loved, I try to communicate well and ask them about their needs and their interests. One of the things that I love to do with my friends is ask them about their love language. I ask them about this because I can clearly understand what I need to do to help them feel loved. If one of my friend's love languages is words of affirmation, I make sure to leave them loving notes and compliment them whenever I see them. I love learning about people in this way because not only is it interesting to me, but it is also very informative for me to know how to love them in the best possible way I can.

Joy has, at times, seemed out of reach and distant from me; something that I see other people taking part in but I could not. Recently, I have found that this could not be farther from the truth. There are many ways that I can experience joy in my life. Joy means being happy and ultimately enjoying my life, making the best of it, and feeling content with who and where I am. I seek out joy in my life by appreciating the little things in life. Hanging out with friends, going on fun adventures, and stepping outside of my comfort zones are things that I do to enjoy my life and seek out joy. I try not to take everyday things for granted, like waking up and getting breakfast. I try to be grateful for those little things, thankful that I woke up, thankful that I am able to have food. Recently, I have learned to do things that I normally wouldn't do, to push myself and do things that scare me. I am always extremely nervous beforehand, but I never regret it when I push through the fear. Practicing this every day has been a great source of joy and excitement in my life and I have found that I am much less scared to step out of my comfort zone and try new things. This method is very helpful for me because it puts my life in perspective and helps me feel content with my life and who I am. Life is precious and short and I want to make the very best of it while I can.