Personal Narrative: Vivian Rider My Mentor

Vivian Rider My Mentor “Talk to me.” Every time I had an upset or quiet demeanor that leads to shutting myself down from friends and class participation, my elementary school teacher would constantly show her concern when nobody else would. Life isn’t easy and it took me a long time to understand that. Letting others into my life without hesitating isn’t so scary as I thought it would be. Sometimes being alone is the best, but restraining from destroying myself is being strong. What makes me resilient, is the ability to cope with difficult situations even when I don’t want to. Learning to love and accept who I am and what I can’t change is strength. Vivian Rider, my fifth-grade teacher from Sierra House Elementary school has helped me on …show more content…
During fifth grade I had the toughest time fitting in, loving myself, and dealing with family problems. People would beat me down with abusive words. Classmates would always call me names and put me down, sometimes even physically push me around. Life was not at all peachy. There was this one day where I reached a breaking point and decided to put a temporary purple smiley face tattoo onto my left wrist, as a reminder that I will be okay. Sitting in my chair at my desk, I didn’t really think too much about my actions, but Mrs.Rider noticed it and asked me why I decided to put a smiley face on my wrist. Boy, I did not feel comfortable talking about my feelings, so I gulped some air into my lungs and before I could tear up I quickly said, “Um sometimes life gets a little rough. People are a little mean too, so it’s a reminder that I’ll be okay.” I remember she said something like, “That’s a very strong thing of you to do.” She didn’t show sympathy, she gave me support. Her hugs meant the world when the world didn’t mean too much to me. When I visited Sierra House to interview her for this project, I asked her why she decided to point out the tattoo. Mrs.Rider remembered after three and a half years and said, “It was out of my nature to bring attention to something I shouldn’t have done. It was also out of the blue and noticeable on a certain area. What I had done was shocking because that was my method of coping and persevering.” Mrs.Rider never realized that when she asked me about it, my heart just popped. It shocked me that somebody cared and showed me that I was strong when I thought I was weak. Throughout the remainder of the time I was with Mrs.Rider, we became very close. I learned to achieve things in my life, only I can do that by myself, by working my butt off and not giving up. She never gave