I'm a Grownup Now Manifesto

We all know school time is fun but at the same time is brutal. Teenagers can be ruthless but we as human beings we want to risk and create a new experiences. High school for everyone is the new step to take but as soon as we are on it, we just want to go back a little. I am now a senior, from Colegio Panamericano, located in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Yes, it's COLOMBIA NOT COLUMBIA!! I am 17 years old and I am about to graduate. I am here to share with you most of my life experiences during my school years. My most awkward period was during middle school, I am not gonna lie. I had braces, didn't know how to manage my crazy hair and was a chubby girl. Everyone in my middle school seemed light years ahead of me in life experience but I think I didn't care a lot. I had friends but as we all know, in that time, all of our classmates were our friends. But before of that of course there was preschool. Oh my god, I look at pictures of me when I was about 4 and I cant believe it, I entered my school all nice and clean, and as soon as my mom pick me up, I was all dirty, my hair wasn't even in those cute braids they made for me in the morning, I was a total disaster, believe me. Like all the little kids, they don't know anything, but with time everything is changing. I can remember that I always wanted to travel to the other side of the world, that was kind of like my dream when I was 4 and also my goal was becoming a math teacher. Now, my dream became a reality and about the teaching, I'm not sure if I want to keep doing that. I had never be the type of person that is shy or the ones that are scare of taking new challenges (maybe that's why I wanted to teach), of course all of them are difficult because they first are taken as obstacles but later they become a life lesson. Learning how to walk and how to eat correctly, are the first ones, but as we grow up, we start to learn that those were the easiest ones in our life and that there are a lot more to learn each day.

By high school, I had gotten rid of my braces and starting to leave my ugly duckling phase. Becoming mildly attractive proved advantageous. Boys started to look at me in a different way and of course later I didn't have problems to find my real friends. As I continued through high school my insecurities started to leave. I was growing a tougher exterior and interior. Later my motivations to start growing and being a real girl appear. I started from my outside that is kind of the easy part, but at the same time I was working on my inside. My goals were set, each class that I went in my past high school years help me to change my point of view of the world. Help me to be more organize, to be respectful and the most important to be myself. My fears of adaptation were going apart, and start letting the ones that help me, coming inside. Talking in front of my classmates really change me and participating in class was essential, each day I was loosing my fear of making mistakes because actually that was one of my biggest fears. Learning how to talk, read and write in English totally made my head turn like a 100 degrees and now learning German is turning 90 degrees more.

The new cycle I'm about to begin is the most exciting for me. I am about to begin a new journey, and starting to go to the real world by myself. The time when my parents needed to take me to each place I wanted, to buy me everything I needed and most of the cases the things I wanted, is about to be gone.

I am going to start my new adventure in Germany, for 6 months. My motivation to apply to the exchange program was my brother. He had the chance to make this experience but to a different place and he told me that it was an incredible time for him. With that, my personal goal was totally established; while I am living there, I'm not only going to meet new people or a new culture, I am going to focus to learn to solve my problems by myself and to gain independence but the most important part I'm going to have the perfect time to learn more about me, to find myself alone and be grateful one more time for what I've become and for what I have now.

After that, I planned to keep learning in University, become a professional in Business and to own a company to help others and not only to produce. Later to be an example woman for my kids and have the happy family everyone wants. My kids generation maybe would be totally different as mine but like my family with me I am going to do with them, I am going to keep some of the customs from our old members. I am going to teach them, that the most valuable things in life are love and family.

I think life is a perfect science, as math, it has a different ways to get to the answer but it has only one answer. All of us are getting to the same point; we live to die but to be remembered. As all of the people that had come into my life planted a seed I'm starting to plant for others the same seed that help me be the women I am right now.

These are my lessons, my plans and my dreams. It's going to take time but i will be patient. Every day i will keep doing my best to reach the ones for my future and to learn from my past. All of this would be thanks to God that is there for me and for us every day. So let's see what happen later, and i am ready to take the big steps to shape my life.

This quote really inspires me for every cycle I finished and for the ones that are coming:

"You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

You’re on your own.

And you know what you know.

You are the guy who’ll decide where to go."
 -Dr. Seuss

Works cited:  "Dr. Seuss Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 04 May 2014. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dr_seuss.html>.