Healing Generations

My parents were only young adults when they had me, they also came from a different country because they wanted to give me a better opportunity in life. When I was as young as 10, I had to handle the responsibility of taking care of 3 younger siblings. When I turned 11, I had to make sure I picked up my younger siblings from school and made sure they weren’t starving. This affected my social life a lot, I never had time to hang out with any of my friends because of my responsibility. I still have to carry out this responsibility to this day. I am the first in my family to go to college, and I felt like everything in my life was so new to me. I had to learn English and math all by myself, I had to learn how to register and deal with college, I had to learn how to apply for a job, pretty much I felt like I was always alone in life. On top of making sure I was always on top of my education, I also had to make sure that I was providing at home. 

Despite this struggle, I don’t want to blame my parents for this, neither have I been angry at them. However, there would be times when I wished I could explain how I felt, I didn't want to betray my parents and add stress to them. I always knew my parents do everything to provide for my family and I love them. I also acknowledge that they were young parents with no help but helping each other and they were doing everything they could do.  In high school, I would have panic attacks because of all the stress I would have, and I always hated talking to the counselor about it. I felt like I was never listened to and only was there to get paid, she wouldn’t remember any of our sessions and it just made me feel even more alone. I couldn’t tell my friends anything because I was always known as “the funny one”, I always made everyone around me laugh, I didn't want them to know how I felt. I always wondered if I had to seek professional help to help cope with my severe anxiety disorder, It wasn’t till discovering 16 Strong Project that I learned differently.

I want people to know that you don’t always need professional help to overcome your ACEs.