Trachelle Layola

As a little girl, even going through tough times, I've known my potential. I recently found a video of myself from a time where I was experiencing extremely traumatic events. In this video, I'm about five years old and I'm telling the camera to look at my new school schedule. Then I proceed to tell the camera that "I'm a kid and I'm very smart." Looking at this video as an 18 year old, I wondered how I felt this way as a kid despite what I was going through. As I continued to grow up, my mental health struggled more and more. From seventh to tenth grade, I took care of my grandmother, something I really valued.. I knew I was able to heal from my trauma, but I had a hard time controlling my emotions to do this. My grandmother passing away was the catalyst for my journey to becoming the woman I've always known I could be. I like to emphasize the dedication it takes to heal rather than the unfortunate events that I'm trying to heal from. After ten months of putting in the hard work in therapy programs, I look back and feel proud of my commitment to living up to the potential I always knew I had. I'm now a month into college, continuing my journey to live the life I deserve, with enthusiasm to be able to help others the same way in the future.