As I’ve entered college, I’ve seen my purpose in live evolve quite a bit. As a kid, the meaning of my life was primarily to be a good child and sibling. I always made sure to contribute to the family, show my parents I care, and look out for my little sister. I did my best to get good grades and be a good student. My purpose was very simple. There weren’t too many things to think about. But over time, since I’ve moved out of my parents’ house on my own, there are a lot more things I have to worry about. As I try to figure out what my goal in life is, my purpose is to try to figure out what I’m good at and what I enjoy doing. I have to find something that serves both of those purposes. For now, my purpose is to not only figure all that out but be responsible enough to continue being a good student, working hard to earn a living, and get the bills paid on time. My purpose has evolved tenfold and I can’t even say I’ve found my real purpose yet. I’m still growing and evolving to find the real meaning of my life. Although it seemed really abrupt at first, looking back I can see a steady evolution of these duties of mine over the years. My parents did a good job easing me into the responsibilities of adulthood.
Though I’m not particularly religious anymore, growing up going to church taught me at the very least the value of being a good person. Regardless of what I believe in I still believe that people should be treated nicely and with respect. In terms of race, I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood so I never really saw race as an issue. I knew that people looked different and that racism existed but to be honest I had no idea how big the implications it still had in this day and age. It was a bit of a culture shock when I moved out here for school and saw how differently people were treated. It’s not even a particularly racist town; it’s just a lot less diverse than where I grew up. It has made me a more empathetic and compassionate person. Seeing first hand how people can be ostracized for something so ridiculous and arbitrary.

My family also played a large role in shaping my personality. I grew up looking up to my mother and father who were both hard workers and never let me or my siblings take things for granted. Having a little sister has made me more conscious in relationships as well. I want to make sure that I treat my significant other the way I would want someone to treat my sister. She’s the most important thing to me and I feel very protective of her. We are very close and I would not be who I am today if it wasn’t for her.

I wouldn’t want to change anything about my life if I had the chance. I’m a firm believer in the fact that things work out the way they are meant to, and I don’t like to live with regrets. But for the purposes of this assignment, I’ll choose to rework my earliest memory. The earliest thing I remember is being a child and getting ready to go somewhere with my mom. I’m not sure where. She had a routine of putting on her watch and grabbing her purse and keys before we left. I remember not being tall enough to reach the counter, so I was standing almost under it. She was just doing her routine of putting on her watch. It’s not a spectacularly interesting memory, but it’s the first thing I can remember. If I could change anything, I would try to remember more details. I don’t remember a lot about our old house and I would love to remember a little more of the situation. Maybe I’d like to know where we were actually headed or what kind of watch she was wearing or what was playing on TV at the time. My mom used to watch Friends a lot, so it’s quite possible that it was playing in the background, but that’s all just speculation. I would like to have more precise memories from this age.