I have never learned or was ever allowed to learn about personal finance. As a child born to immigrant parents, I recall often having to translate letters and bills as well as being taught to write checks. My parent says it's so that I would know how to do so once I am independent, but they never explained the concept of checks and bills. I did not understand what these pieces of paper were for, only that money was involved. Naturally, as I grew older and matured, the monetary world became easier to understand. However, I naively thought that it would be easy to earn money and that as soon as I attained a job, money would flow in. I'd be keeping every single dollar that I earn, right? Then, I learned about taxes, and while my economics class in high school taught about the cost of living, price trends, and forms of investment, I, having never had a job and did not have any monthly expenses, did not take finance as seriously as I should have. Nothing made me more aware of personal finances than the pandemic. Until that point, I was fairly removed from the financial side of my family; my parents dealt with most of our expenses, and I only was there to translate some things or make online accounts to pay bills online. I was not aware of what our monthly expenses were or how much these expenses were either. I didn't even know how much my parents made each year. As a result, I didn't know how well my family was faring throughout the lockdown. My mother didn't have a job and my father's salary was lower than it was before the pandemic. Pile that onto the fact that my family didn't earn much, to begin with, did not have any assets other than the house we owned, is still paying off the mortgage, and monthly property costs, I feared that my family would not be able to support our current way of living. I was clueless about anything related to finance, and it only exacerbated my anxiety surrounding our financial situation. To add to the pandemic, there was the fact that as a high school senior, there would soon be college tuition that had to be paid. It was only during the process of filling out financial aid applications that I learned, for the first time, about how my family did financially. However, it soon became clear that even that information wasn't enough as the offered financial aid was higher than I would've expected with my family's current situation. College became a point of worry and I, despite my family's reassurance, was ridden with worry that college may be too taxing of an expense. I believe that if I were more knowledgeable about finances, my day-to-day life would have less stress and anxiety. I would understand my family's financial standing and know what decisions would be wise or not. Furthermore, I would use any financial education I attain to invest and gain multiple sources of income; if I unexpectedly lose my job, I'll have other sources of income to stay afloat while I look for another job. With financial security, I could also repay my parents for everything they've done. I want to be able to buy anything they could ever want. If I were to start a family, I can use what I learned to securely support my family and make sure that my children would not have the same anxiety surrounding money that I had.

Friendship is something that I've come to value over a lot of the things in my life. They provide connections that you can have with another human being especially if there isn't one at home. My friends are some of the most important people that I have. They are the people that I can trust and turn to whenever I need advice. My friends are the people who have my back no matter what. Friendships are always the prerequisite for any sort of relationships. They are developed from common interests and from there can become something more. Every connection with another person starts with a friendship. Even if you don't want anything deeper than a platonic friendship, the most meaningful friendship can still provide you a lot more fulfillment than not having people around at all. Friends can easily make you day better; they know what makes you happy, how to bring up your mood. My friends are the only people I feel as if I can be vulnerable with, even if they don't necessarily need to know my problems. For that I am eternally grateful. They make my life more enjoyable and I will do everything I can to make theirs just as much.

I used to never care for my personal health and valued work over my own body, but as I continue into my senior year into high school, I realize that my habits have spiraled out of control and negatively impacting my work ethic and social life. I've been sleeping less and neglecting my personal health. I started off small, with beginning skin-care or at least moisturizing daily, as I used to neglect anything that pertained to my body. If I begin externally, I can eventually face internal problems. As I got used to the routine of doing something for myself, I started diverging into larger problem areas such as my sleep schedule. I used to get only 3 to 4 hours of sleep daily, but currently I've been actively trying to go to bed before midnight so that I could get at least six hours in before the next school day. I also began focusing on my social life more, going out with friends and developing our current relationships. I also began taking 5 minute breaks after 30 minutes of work. It has made me so much more productive, but has also been less stressful as I am not doing everything all at once anymore. All these small things has made everything easier to manage, made me feel better about myself, and overall gave me more happiness in what I am doing in life.