Today I am very self aware of my mental health and emotions. It is important for me to have self care and stability in my life. I try to be a positive person in every aspect of my life. I put my best effort into the things I do and I push myself to get up everyday and succeed. I have to take medication for my mental health, which helps with my moods and depression. I don't like being irritated, I like to be able to be social with others and build positive relationships. My mental health used to shy me away from other people but today I try and be as outgoing as I can when I interact with others. Also, I really enjoy being in school. School makes me happy, learning and talking to my classmates helps me see different perspectives of other people's life's. Interacting with others can build positive relationships and impact your life in a positive way. I am grateful to have a good head one shoulders today. I am also aware of all the mental health treatment that is out there in the world today. Almost anyone can seek or get help for their mental health. Being aware of your mental health is very important. Today I can identity my emotions, which gives me a decision to choose positive behaviors. You never know what some one is going through. It is important to treat others how you want to be treated. My goal is to make a positive impact on the world and it's people in it. Norma Wilkerson

Legacy to me means a person or thing that has left behind a path of inspiring and unforgettable actions in their path of success. A legend leaves behind a legacy which means a person like Lebron James or a thing like a Porch or Lamborghini. Legends are inspiring to me and are a type of motivation and influence on the world. I had no reason to become a drug addict. My father was a drug addict but he was never around. I feel it was a genetic factor that played in my drug addiction. My mother gave me everything I wanted and raised me to be responsible and independent. I chose to go down the wrong path for many years until I was sick and tired. I always worked because my mother instilled a hard work ethic into me. I was one of the only kids to graduate high school in my generation of my family. I was also one of the first to go to college. My mother worked full time and put herself through college while raising me. Her actions throughout my life has inspired me to make the decisions that I make today. I am sober and taking action to have a good productive life. Being in school is broaden my perspective of the world today. I want to help people and be a good example to other addicts and alcoholics. I want to be able to share my experience, strength and hope with others to show them that there is a better life if you set your mind to it. Happiness and peace is my main goal in life. When I die I want to be remembered in a good way. At least I know if I give life 110% today, I am making progress. The world and the people in it has a big impact on the community. If I can help one person, my job is complete. My goal is to impact a group of people or the world with my positive actions. I have broke the cycle of addiction in my blood stream. If I ever have children, I want to educate them on the world and what it takes to live a happy successful life. My mother gave me all the tools and resources to be successful, I just had to apply them to my life to make it work. Thanks for letting me share my story.

I am a 27 year old female who is part of the LGBTQ community. I have been like this my whole life and knew from a young age that I was different. For the most part, I have always been accepted for being a lesbian. My mom was in denial while I was growing up and we had some issues there but today she accepts me for who I am I go to meetings at the LGBTQ center in Cleveland, Ohio. I like being able to relate and talk to other people like me. I want others to know that they are not alone and I want others to be able to be who they truely are. I love people that are open and comfortable with their sexuality. It brings a smile to my face to see that being homosexual is becoming more acceptable today in society.

My dad has been incarcerated basically my whole life. He has been in and out of prisons which left my mother to raise me. I practically grew up in a prison. Til this day my dad seems to not be able to get it together. My father is constantly in and out of my life. Thank God I have an amazing mother to push me and motivate me to achieve my goals, no matter what happens in life. It is unfortunate that there is already a stigma about African American fathers being absent from their kids life. That just always comes to mind when I think about my father being absent from my life all the time. I wanted to be like my father so I started heading down a really dark path and recently got my life back on track. Despite my father constantly in and out of jails and institutions, I chose to have a better path. It is all about the choices you make.I do not hate him and I am here whenever he decides he wants to be in my life. I do not play the victim or blame anything on my father. I just look at it like at least I have a wonderful mother that is there for me. I more so feel bad for her, that she didn’t get the husband she deserves. Today I try to be the best daughter I can be. If I were to have kids, regardless if the father is there or not, I want to set a good example for my children. Having an absent parent always made me wonder what it would be like to have two happy parents. But my mom is literally all I need. Of course I miss my father but I cant wonder why he wasn’t there for me when I needed hm or what it would be like if he was around. My mother set an exceptional example of who a parent or person should be like in my life. She works hard and has put herself through college while raising me. All I want to do is make my mother proud and show people that despite your shortcomings, you can achieve anything you want with dedication and hard work.

I am a long time career criminal. I believe in 1st, 2nd and 3rd chances. I am blessed today that I am still alive. I have been in trouble since I was a little kid. I am 27 years old and started doing hard core drugs when I was 18 years old. So if you do the math, that’s 11 years of a downward spiral. I am lucky to make it out of bondage and to have my life back on track. I am a productive member of society today and have a job and my own place. I am working on car as well. I have had multiple cars but lost them to drugs and alcohol. Even though I have been a felon almost my whole life, I have always had jobs. So I hate that excuse about felons not being able to get jobs because that is a myth. If you try hard enough you will obtain your goal. If I could change anything about the criminal justice system, it would be a forgiveness program. We criminals and drug addicts are very smart and intelligent. I don’t think its fair that just because you have a criminal record that you cant get certain jobs. I feel as a recovering addict we should have the chance to prove ourselves in the field that we desire. I’m not saying it isn’t possible but it can be hard to get the dream job you want when you have a criminal record. To me, after a certain amount of years, your record should be expunged for you to have a better chance of success in certain careers. I believe that people can change and that people make mistakes. I feel people who have proven they can do good over a certain amount of years without any trouble should get that chance to have a clear record to try again. Everyone deserves success if they want it and are honest about their choices and decisions. I strive to be the best person I can be today and feel I deserve the same privileges as others do at success. The world is full of amazing things and I want to travel as well. Just because I am a felon, that shouldn’t mean I cant travel to certain areas. My freedom is the most important thing to me today. Thank you for giving me a chance to be a part of this post.

I am blessed to be a student at American Intercontinental University. I am a undergraduate and it is my first year of college. I am going for an associates in Arts and Business Administration. I really enjoy school more this time then I ever have before. I only completed high school because I had to. College is a choice for me today and I am grateful to have an opportunity to further my education. My educational goal is to stay in school as long as possible and be able to maintain my job as well. I want to live financially free and be able to have a comfortable life. Nothing is too big for me to achieve if I put my mind to it. I like the challenge and school gives me an adrenaline rush. Being in college makes me feel like I have a purpose in life. I know I cannot go wrong by obtaining more knowledge about the world and everyday life. My end goal is to be a CEO of a company weather its mine or not. I like to be the one in-charge and I am very skilled on facilitating situations. I can evaluate what is going right and wrong with a situation. I know how to improve a situation or circumstance to make the operation run smoothly. I want to help others have positive experiences and want to be frequent customers of my company. Having happy customers helps for a successful business. Success and happiness is in my future. I will speak my success into existence and work hard to achieve my goals. I know with brain power and dedication I can accomplish my long and short term goals. I love college and I love getting good grades. Being a productive member of society and gaining more knowledge each day has inspired me to keep moving forward towards success.

I am a 27 year old black women, who is part of the LGBTQ community. Growing up I have always knew that I was different. I played with the boys and felt a strong attraction for other females like me. I never really got bullied for being who I am. More so, the kids would be like "are you a boy or girl?" I played on the baseball and flag football team with all boys, even became the MVP on my all boys flag football team. My mom wanted to play with girls so I joined softball too, which was okay. As I grew older, me and the boys grew apart. We went to highschool where I got my first girlfriend. I started dabbling into drugs and other substances. Getting expelled every year of school, I headed down a very bad path up until now. During my troubles and trials in my addiction, I have fought a lot of men. If that doesn't kill your self esteem I don't know what does. I even have been assaulted by cops just because I had my license and they wanted to take me to jail. I try not to live in fear because I know there are hate crimes against the LGBTQ community. I have heard plenty of horror stories but I know God is always walking with me through my journey. I never wanted to have to live a lie like some people I know in my life. I want to be free and have a true purpose in life. Today I advocate for the LGBTQ community and I go to the center for AA meetings. I befriend other black women like my self and relate to them so they know their not alone. Today it is more acceptable to be who you are, which is amazing to see today. I advocate for equal right as well. I know being black and a gay women, life isn't always fair. Me and my girlfriend work at the same job. Mind you she is white, they started her off at 13/hr. I got her the job there too. They only started me off at 10.15/hr. So what did I do? I brought that to their attention because it was not fair to me. They raised my pay to 12.50/hr. That goes to show how our society is. Women, especially black women get the short end of the stick. I know for a fact. I try to be a productive member of society and not let things like that get under my skin. I have a right today to have a voice and to stand my ground in the community I live in. I know my skin has made me a strong beautiful person today. I am grateful to be born African American and I embrace my culture and ethnics. Thank you for letting me tell me story and I hope it helps atleast one person who reads this.

Living in todays world makes me strive to want to be the best person I can be. My name is Norma Wilkerson. I was blessed on September 4th, 1993 to a beautiful mother, who loved me unconditionally and strives to raise me the best she could. Actually watching her go through college and work a full time job inspired me to go to college. I am 27 years old, no kids and part of the LGBTQ community. Life was amazing as a child and still is til this day. I know I can be anything I want to be and once I set my mind on something, I achieve it. I am going to school for business administration and when I obtain my degree I hope to be able to help other like me. I didn’t have to choose the hard way of life but I did. Being. Drug addict of 10 years, I have done and seen a lot of things. I knew there was more to life then wasting all my money on drugs and ruining my life. I had no excuse to turn out the way I did but when I picked up that substance, it took me on a roller coaster ride of my life. Well today I am sober and doing very well. Me and my fiancé got our own apartment and we have the same goals. I want to keep furthering my education and stay busy and focused in life. Bring in school makes me feel like I have a purpose. Well as a recovering addict I have been in and out of jail. I have completed multiple treatment centers, even completed recovery court. Staying accountable for my own actions and helping others keeps me sane and sober. I release for me to stay sober I have to stay connected with my higher power and reach out. I have wanted for nothing since I have been in recovery and there are a lot of good people out there willing to have a helping hand. My goal is to help others like I was helped when I needed to get sober. I want to eventually have the financial means to open a recovery based sober house for men and women. When I first tried to get sober there were barely any treatment centers for women around me, which was very discouraging. As the years went on there have been more coming about which is amazing. I old like to open two sober homes, one for women and one for men. It is important to get a removing addict acclimated back into the community and to teach them life skills. Some people will tell you they don’t even know how to wash a dish. My house or facility will have life kill programs and resources to get people the help they need to get back on their feet. Eventually, after they start work and can come and go as they please without using drugs or alcohol, they Can decide if they want to stay and pay rent or graduate and continue their journey else where. I just want to help other have a chance at life like so many other have given me. Sobriety is free and once you get over the phenomenon of craving, you will see that your freedom is the most important thing that you have.