Overcoming Difficulties

When I was in 7^th grade my parents got a divorce, similar to many kids in my generation.  However when my parents got divorced my dad moved eight hours away, we had to move from our house to a condo and my older sister moved out at the age of eighteen.  This so far has been the hardest thing I’ve faced in my life.  Since my dad lived so far away we would only get to go see him in the summer, and for Christmas.  It took me two years to figure the best way to cope with it.  At first I took it out on my mom and blamed her, which was ridiculous because she’s the one that stayed and took care of my younger brother and I.  Three years after my dad moved I had a moment of self actualization. I realized that my mom didn’t deserve the way I was treating her, and that our situation wasn’t her fault.  After this moment I really focused on bettering myself. I started focusing on my school work, picked better friends and became a lot closer to my mom and brother.  Also I would exercise; I found that to be extremely therapeutic, most especially running.  Four years after my dad left he moved back to Connecticut.  Last summer my mom and my dad actually ended up getting remarried to each other.  Although this makes me happy and I’m so glad to see them happy again, my happiness doesn’t come from them or their actions it comes from within myself now.  The coping skills I developed at the age of twelve are still the same ones I use today. In some ways I’m thankful for everything that happened, because it taught me at a young age that when things go wrong it’s not the end of the world.  These skills won’t just help me in college, but for the rest of my life.  Everyone faces problems in their life whether in there; social, academic, personal, or family life how you deal with these problems defines who you are.