I believe there is no deep meaning to life, that we are just here to learn and grow. For example, I get the greatest satisfaction when I've had a productive day instead of being on my phone wasting my time. When I feel happy with myself, my mind thinks about learning new things and growing emotionally and intellectually—for example, learning and practicing my French. Knowing I'm putting myself ahead by learning a third language and knowing I can do it with ease makes me feel proud of myself. These moments should fill our lives when we try to learn something new and improve our mentality and abilities, making us happy. Furthermore, finding new hobbies and skills that benefit us can help us find what we genuinely like and don't like. I believe this is the second reason we have a life, to find and enjoy our true selves. Figuring out who we honestly are and what makes up our persona can be a little nerve-wracking. But I believe the journey of finding ourselves and learning to love ourselves is what truly makes life beautiful and memorable. We make many friends and bonds in life, who, even if they don't stay in our lives, once made our journey a little easier or taught us lessons through the experiences. It might not be the case for everyone. Still, for me, life is about meeting people to help us find our true selves and have memorable times with them. As well as learning as much as we can, and not academic subjects, but things that we love and that make us better people mentally and towards others. Life is about enjoying every moment without worrying about others' opinions and finding the confidence in being ourselves on our journey to find ourselves.

I wasn't always a shy and reserved person. My parents always told me that I would behave freely and courageously when I was younger. But now, without wanting to, my mind forces me to think of how other people will perceive me; this has ultimately led me to become insecure. But I am determined to change that. I want to do the things I love and make me happy. To help me achieve this, I've created a bucket list with activities that I am scared to take the initiative to do. It includes simple things that force me to step out of my comfort zone and do something I've never done. One of the things I've crossed out is involving myself in class more. Recently we read Hamlet in Literature class. We sign up to read whenever we read a play, I've always wanted to do this, but I've never been confident enough. This past week I finally did it. I signed up to read a small part in Hamlet. Doing so, I realized it is less scary than I thought; now, I feel more confident to participate in class activities in the future. Another thing I've managed to cross out from my bucket list is going to a haunted house attraction with my brother. But I think the best place my bucket list has taken me to is the State Fair of Texas, the biggest fair in my state. Besides the more exciting things on my list, like Six Flags or visiting Austin, I will also be going to prom this spring, something simple I'm scared of doing because of my anxiety. I am looking forward to seeing how I will leave my comfort zone with my bucket list items and the great memories I will make.

I will start college in the fall of this year. I will be studying to get a bachelor's of science degree in psychology, and I will be in a pre-med program to prepare myself for medical school. I plan to prepare myself to become a child and adolescent psychiatrist at medical school. As someone that has gotten help from a counselor as a child, I feel my experiences have encouraged me to seek a career that strives to help children as I once was. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I will work diligently to eliminate the stigma of seeking help. I firmly believe looking after one's mental health and receiving services should be as normal as going to a regular doctor or dentist, and no one should feel afraid to reach out for help. My goal of becoming a psychiatrist also includes creating my mental health hospital where I will be able to make services more affordable for children and adolescents from households with lower incomes. I am aware that a multitude of adolescents that have been in a psychiatric hospital has had negative and traumatic experiences due to the staff's unprofessional treatment. If I achieve my goal of opening my hospital, I will enforce strict rules to protect children, adolescents, and anyone residing, visiting, or working at the institution. As a psychiatrist, I will work on developing therapy techniques that will be fun and engaging for children and positively impact my future patients. I want their experiences to be illuminating and helpful and not make it feel like a chore or just a regular doctor's appointment. I wish to help children and adolescents like me get affordable counseling help while at the same time working to destigmatize asking for help, and doing research on psychological disorders.

Confidence means being yourself and doing the things you love without fear of others' judgment or doing just that, even if you are worried about others' opinions. Confidence means being yourself. I have struggled with a lack of confidence since middle school because of my accent. People always made sure I was aware of my accent, so I started disliking it and speaking less and less. But as time passed, I began to know certain celebrities with accents, such as Florence Pugh. I have always found their accents sweet and as something that adds to their charming personality. Because of this, I started to wonder why I couldn't think the same about my accent. Now, when I talk, I pay close attention to my accent, and I try to admire how I make words sound as if I were listening to a celebrity talk. I don't force myself to love my accent immediately. Instead, I try to practice loving it every day until it becomes second nature one day. Whenever I feel myself doubting whether or not to speak up during class discussions because of fear of judgment based on my accent, I try to challenge my thoughts and ask myself if my classmates have ever said anything bad about it. Or if they have not understood me at some point because of it. I remind myself that people have mentioned that I have an accent and have tried to correct how I say some things. Still, they have never said anything explicitly negative about it. I practice being more confident in myself and my accent every day by thinking of myself as a friend whom I need to encourage to see her great qualities and by challenging any negative thoughts that do not reflect my reality.

Nature is one of the constituents that makes our planet breath-taking and livable. One of the many virtues of nature is that it is everywhere anytime. Whenever I am going through something challenging and need to separate myself from the stress, nature is always there and able to do help. I tend to go on walks on moments like this. Taking time to admire my surroundings, the environment, the little things that make up the city I live in, always allows me to feel serene. Recently I have tried to incorporate nature into my life more and not just for moments when I need to detach from my situation. To aid in this, my bedroom has seven long windows on three of my walls. I tend to leave my windows without curtains and blinds rolled up at moments when I cannot go outside to still experience nature. For example, whenever it is raining, I can see clearly the rain falling from inside my bedroom, no matter what wall I face. Or whenever it has snowed, and is too cold to go outside, with my blinds rolled up, I can still see the snow outside surrounding three sides of my room. One of the things I have taken up recently to stay more in touch with nature is having plants in my room. I currently have three potted plants in my bedroom. Two are different types of small cactus plants. The other one is a Pachira Aquatica. Although I now have a little bit of nature inside my room, I still never fail to go outside and explore the earth which allows us to be alive. Nature is a great reminder that despite anything going on in our lives, there is always something beautiful and incredible outside readily accessible to everyone.

I have just recently started to realize how resilient I truly am when it comes to all the rough patches in my life I've encountered. From maneuvering through high school and applying to universities and financial aid with minimal parental guidance to learning how to get out of my shell more often and how to interact in class while being shy. The multiple obstacles I have faced being a girl of color in a place that was not designed to help people like me particularly have more than often made me feel deserted, discouraged, and like giving up. That is all that I was able to see the past few months when looking at my situation. But upon reflecting on my actions of still going through and still wanting to pursue a college education despite my disadvantages and discouragements, I've come to appreciate just how resilient I have been. When looking back at 2021 and the hard years before that, I realized that I continued on the path to my dream no matter what difficulties I had to overcome. I have managed to keep moving forward, and I am very happy and pleased to realize I have this magnificent trait within myself. I have managed to be resilient and learned that I could continue being this way has changed my perspective about my capabilities and what I can overcome. Realizing I am more resilient than I thought has turned to be valuable. Now, when encountering a challenge, I won't see it as an obstacle but as an opportunity to grow, knowing I will be able to overcome it as I have before.

Getting lost in a book is one of the best feelings in the world. I love the feeling I get when I experience a new world through reading. I've been transported to an academy in Montana, where the students learn combat strategies to defend the royal family of vampires. I've been in a raft with Louis Zamperini in the middle of the ocean, sharp waves forcefully swaying, and hungry sharks surrounding the raft. I have lived in a world where you get a notice approximately 24-hours before you are about to die, and you are left trying to live the best last day. I've met multiple distinct characters and learned numerous things from their personalities and experiences because our struggles and challenges are similar despite our worlds being different. But what I love most is getting to share my knowledge of a good book with a friend. It makes me feel joyful retelling a story to my dear friend when we hang out or explaining why it is a good book that he should read. Seeing their intrigued face as they listen to me talking enthusiastically about a world very distinct from ours but easily attainable through words. The times I've spent, and will continue to spend, talking to my siblings about a book we both finished reading, discussing all the turns and twists we didn't see coming, or how we relate to the characters in different ways, will always be indelible. Reading a book and sharing the joy and experiences it has brought me with those I love will always bring me happiness.

When I was eight years old, my parents immigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Texas. A place they did not know, to give my siblings and me a life with better education, career opportunities, and resources. There was no doubt in my mind at that young age that I would get to live a normal school life at high school or college or that I would later be working my dream job. And for a long time after arriving in this country, I fully believed the American dream was possible. Throughout elementary, intermediate, and middle school, I made sure to excel in my classes. I worked diligently, learning the material in hopes it would get me closer to my dreams. I would often sit at my desk and imagine how college life would be. Then, I would think about my dream career and helping my parents live a better life once I was working that job. It wasn't until high school that my dream began crumbling down. As I started thinking more seriously about college and researching, I discovered they are harder to afford than I had initially thought. Still, I did not let that discourage me; I immediately thought about jobs I could apply to save money for college. That little piece of information motivated me even more. I would study harder, graduate high school, earn money for college, and be able to attend it. It wasn't until I was sixteen years old that this cherished belief I had of being able to accomplish everything I wanted as I now lived in the United States, began falling apart. That belief that had already started crumbling began to fall apart even faster. I became aware of my immigrant status when my friends started getting their driver's licenses, and I learned I couldn't get one being undocumented, which was just the beginning of it. Later I also learned I can not legally work in the US. This fact only discouraged me further. I began wondering how I would cover my future college tuition now? I started worrying about whether I would even be able to attend college being undocumented. Thankfully, I can. But that fact did not provide much consolation as the thought of not attending college due to money overtook me. I started to fear nothing I did would ever compensate for being undocumented in this country. My motivation began dwindling. It wasn’t until I started high school that I began to develop a new interest that motivated me again. I have always been curious about psychology, but my interest really started when I began taking classes related to it. Now, I would love a counseling profession, I thoroughly believe an excellent counselor needs more than just a diploma and a degree. An exceptional counselor who is undoubtedly capable of assisting their clients can understand them and connect with them through similar experiences. There are already those types of counselors in the world. But I fear that my cultural group might be missing out on the opportunity of getting that type of counselor. I believe my experiences as a Mexican in the US will allow me to thoroughly understand and help other people who don't truly belong to a single culture. I will provide them with the support that other counselors might not be able to by connecting with them on that more profound level. This perspective of yearning to help people with similar experiences to mine through counseling, has managed to encourage me to withstand any obstacles or discouragements that I might experience as a first-generation student at university.