My dream for my future career is to be an accomplished paralegal which I have already started living this dream now its about perfecting it. My goal is to go back to school next year and get my paralegal associates degree so I can perfect the skills I am using everyday at work to become even better in my position. My dream is to be able to make over $20 dollars an hour. Right now my pay is at $18.00hr. I believe by going back to school it will help my dream career by allowing me to be more confident in myself and my abilities at work and to also feel like I have learned new skills that will allow me to impress my bosses and be a better asset to my colleagues at work as well. I want to be able to do better legal research as well as better legal writing as well in my job.

Overcoming my mental health illness Boarder line personality disorder was a time I used persistence. I was diagnosed with boardline personality disorder in 2016. I was beyond devastated and thought something was truly wrong with me. I lost all hope in myself and did not believe I could finish law school or achieve any of the dreams and goals I had for myself. I started to think I was really crazy and that I would be this way forever. My therapist Brandy at the time told me that having a mental health disorder is just like being diagnosed with high blood pressure or diabetes. All I had to do was take my medicine and use her coping skills and treatment advice and I could accomplish anything I set my mind to do. So after a lot of tears and heartache I picked myself up and began the hard work of learning what borderline personality meant, what caused me to have it and caused me to be depressed and how I could learn to cope with it and of course began taking my medication. In the beginning of my treatment it was hard, but with hard work a lot of tears, arguments and meltdowns I was able to not only finish getting my law degree but beat my depression, gain myself confidence back and stay on a healthy mental health regiment that I continue today with my new therapist Jennifer. Most of all I am now working as a paralegal in a wonderful law firm called Willis Oden and now I want to go back to school to get my Paralegal associates degree. The sky is the limit once you believe in yourself and have faith never giving up has allowed me to even dream bigger than before.

One thing I love about myself is that I am resilient. I have gone through a lot of challenges in my life that should have broke me down or caused me to give up on my dreams and goals but I did not. I never gave up on myself. One example of this was in getting a steady job. I went through so many interviews, so may rejections, and it felt like I would never find the right job to fit me. Even at at my lowest time I kept applying to jobs, making inquires and even applying with temp agencies hoping someone anyone would give me a chance. This year 2021 I finally found the job that was a right fit for me and how it happened was nothing but God. My faith is another reason why I am resilient. Praying non stop even when I do not feel like praying keeps me going on. The reason I love this about myself is because it just shows me that no matter what I go through in life nothing can bring me down or stop me unless I allow it too. Even in trying to get money to be able to pay for my tuition for my paralegal associates degree classes instead of giving up when FASFA did not give me any money and the school I want to attend said I did not qualify for scholarships from them I did not give up or quit. I spoke to Financial Aid and they gave me this website. As to date I have applied for over ten different Scholarships and I am hopeful I will win a few.

The most inspiring book I have read was Maya Angelou's I know why the cage bird sings. The reason this book was inspiring to me is because Maya Angelou story was about pain and trauma and how after she fought long and hard with help and support from her family and teacher she was able to become the woman we all knew and love. It inspired me in my own life because I was born prematurely and I had a lot of health issues and learning disabilities growing up. Sometimes certain challenges would become so overwhelming that I would want to give up on myself, but with the support of my family and teachers I was able to overcome most of my health issues and learning disabilities. I know why the cage bird sings teaches us that life is difficult and its not pretty but if you use your challenges and heart aches as fuel and motivation the sky is the limit on where you can go.