The Journey Back to School

Og Mandino once said, “Failure will never overtake me, if my determination to succeed is strong enough”. At a critical time in my life, I was inspired to go back to school. I was inspired by my father’s caseworker, who also had disabilities. To me, she represented hard work and determination. I met her when I went to visit my father in the hospital. She sat down and talked with me and my father and helped us work through some of our issues. She inspired me because despite her disabilities she seemed like she was a hard worker and cared about the people that she took care of.

First, the caseworker and I discussed the situation with my Dad and for the first time I was able to be open with him. The situation that we talked about was not good, but the outcome of talking about the situation created a better atmosphere. After this, she shared some experiences she had known about, prior to this meeting in regards to my father. These experiences were not good ones, but helped me to learn more about my father. This caseworker helped to go above and beyond just through communication and taught me the importance of this. My father had acted the same way toward her as he had with me, knowing that she was in a wheelchair. I found though, that her disability did not hinder her progress and this inspired me. This event changed me because it made me realize that if I put my mind to anything I can become anything that I want to with a lot of hard work and determination.

I was even inspired by her work. I had had previous experience working with mental health. I had a social worker in high school. She had also inspired me when she was working for me, the way she took care of my needs helped me to feel at peace with things. After this I began thinking about a career in the mental health field. This experience reassured me that this is what I wanted to do with my life. If someone with some of the same disabilities as me could do this profession then I knew that I could too.

This event was important to me because it involved my father and I really looked up to my father, but also because this experience taught me to never give up on my dreams. If you have a dream, you should go for it, no matter what your circumstance is. I chose this specific experience because this is what inspired me to go forward with the journey I am on.

Another thing that inspired me to go back to school was my mother. My mother decided to go back to school at fifty years old. One of the main reasons she went back to school was to show her children that you are never too old to go back. The first child to pick up on this lesson was of course me. The second was my sister. My sister has gotten her RN and has even encouraged me to continue on with my journey to school. I look up to my big sister as well and she has really inspired me to continue on. When I lived with her that was one of the things she often said. “To live with me you need to either have a job or be continuing your education.”

I have been going to Friends and Action Clubhouse for a couple years now and along the way I knew that I wanted to do this kind of work, but being at clubhouse and seeing all the staff there and how much they take pride in their job and how much they care for the members really inspires me even further. I know, like I said in the beginning, it will be a lot of hard work, but in the long run it will pay off. I know by doing stuff in the work order day and helping lead clubhouse meetings it will better help me with what I am facing in my journey and in my future.

On my own journey back to school, I have learned that it is tough. It is a lot of hard work, but I know in the long run it will pay off. Failure can never overtake me, if my determination is strong enough.

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davidcarruba