Families logo

30 Journal Entries for Self-Discovery – Day 4

What do you think shaped you into the person you are today?

By Michelle SchultzPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
Like

Welcome to day four of my journal entries for self-discovery! I'm honestly impressed I still have followers. Just kidding. Kind of. Anyway, I'm excited to keep going. I hope you're all writing along with me. Honestly, it's been fun so far. Here is the quote of the day from one of my all-time favorite authors (Seriously, check her out next time you're at the library, her books are amazing); "You may not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page. " - Jodi Picoult

DAY FOUR: WHAT DO YOU THINK SHAPED YOU INTO THE PERSON YOU ARE TODAY?

I believe there are so many factors that shaped me into the person I am today. Mostly though, I believe the main thing that shaped me into the person I am today was being raised by my father. Not only being raised by him but watching him struggle; as a single parent, as the father of two girls, as a single person trying to make ends meet, as a business owner, as a husband, as a person. I watched him struggle a lot growing up. The one thing that all of his struggles had in common, though: he never gave up because things got hard. Nothing was so hard that he couldn't accomplish it. He always put in one hundred percent. No matter what. His ways weren't always... 'normal' and some of them were a little unorthodox, but he made it work. And we always had fun.

I honestly believe that if my mother hadn't passed away when I was so young and I hadn't watched my father struggle so hard and succeed so fiercely, I wouldn't be the person I am today. That may sound horrible; I'm not happy my mother passed away. However, my life would be extremely different if she had been around when I was growing up. Obviously, I don't know what my life would be like, but I do know that growing up with my dad shaped me a lot.

I got to watch him build his business from nothing. It taught me that even the smallest ideas can become our greatest successes. I was there as he tried his hardest to raise two girls. I'll admit, we didn't always have perfect moments. But watching him definitely taught me that just being there is sometimes the most important thing you can do for someone. And he was always there. He struggled in relationships and watching him taught me early on that I should never sacrifice my beliefs to make someone else happy. Watching him as a single parent also gave me a lot of perspective on how cruel the world is to the abnormal. I got made fun of a lot. My dad didn't have time to pack a lunch with a little note in it every day or do my hair in cute braids or show me how to pick out cute outfits. I didn't really fit in with the other girls and little kids can be mean, but it really shocked me how mean other parents' comments were. It also taught me how to stand up for myself and not to take shit from anyone.

Watching my dad struggle through the years and me not being able to do anything about it was hard. However, watching him succeed was so rewarding and helped me to realize that sometimes the things people think we're failing at are the exact things that were best at. The normal isn't always best. Mostly, to stick to my guns.

Growing up with him and watching how fiercely he worked and how greatly he succeeded from his hard worked shaped me more than anything else I can think of.

My thoughts: I'm not sure if I liked this question for self-discovery. It doesn't specify a lot, so it's pretty wide open. I feel that there A LOT of different factors that shape people, from who you raised by to specific life events. There really isn't just one things that shapes people. I chose who raised me because I felt like that is a major factor of how I turned out. I guess this question can be interpreted a lot of different ways and it did really make me think about why I turned out to be the person that I did. However, it wasn't really anything that I didn't already know. It was more of just a question to remind myself of what shaped me rather than really discovering anything new.

parents
Like

About the Creator

Michelle Schultz

I'm mostly an editorial writer. I love to share my opinions and experiences. I don't hold back and I swear so if you take offense easily, my articles probably aren't for you. I'm a single mom just trying to stay sane.

@loreleismom

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.