While my college colleagues filled bookshelves with James Patterson novels, my library was quite different. The Tale of the Dueling Nuerosurgens, by Daniel Levitin and Sam Kean sat atop my bedroom dresser. When I learned my aunt was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, I turned through the tear-stained pages and found out that she was in battle against her own brain. Mid 2012, I experienced an event that altered my entire life when my aunt, Kulbir Kaur, at the age of 28, was announced dead after taking her own life. I was enrolled as a student at California State University of East Bay at the time and on my visits back home, I could not understand why staying in a church with only a thin curtain separating her from an elderly priest seemed more appealing
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Later that evening I voiced my opinion and views at dinner, which resulted in crazed looks from all angles of the table. Shortly she was taken to a professional, the diagnosis revealed she was schizophrenic. Two days later she took her own life. Without any medical knowledge, Auntie Kelly had one out of two options in her opinion, continuing to battle with her brain and live with a misdiagnosed illness or leaving this earth. 2012 brought a number of unannounced surprises. Just three months later my eldest sister, my best friend attempted to commit suicide after been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder earlier in 2012. This incident held a great toll on our family emotionally. My mother, an identical twin, and a mother of three became extremely hard on not only herself but me as well. She pushed me even harder to become self-sufficient, and to succeed in life so that I am never faced with making a decision where either outcome were detrimental to my health or …show more content…
In confidence I can say, ‘I now know my purpose in life’. Inspiring others to live their best lives, to live life to their fullest potential; to research underlying factors of a problem and resolve it. I told myself, ‘I will help whoever I can and try to prevent them from going through what I did’. I am thankful for all the trials and obstacles I've encountered because without the struggle I would never have known my strength, capability and the drive I have within myself. With this beautiful change in my life, I am no longer in a toxic relationship, I started to rebuild friendships and relationships, interested in a new study field, started working with children and families diagnosed with Autism, and volunteering at hospitals and small facilities. I simply look at life through a new lens. If anyone had told me a few years ago that everything would get better, I would have nodded while screaming disbelief inside my head. I thought things simply could not get better, that I’d forever feel imprisoned in a dark room. However, understanding the beautiful human brain helped me control and grasp my life. I gained an understanding of how injury and disease of different types and in different locations can alter a person’s life. I have been granted a second chance at life and a second chance to go head first and accomplish new
Later that evening I voiced my opinion and views at dinner, which resulted in crazed looks from all angles of the table. Shortly she was taken to a professional, the diagnosis revealed she was schizophrenic. Two days later she took her own life. Without any medical knowledge, Auntie Kelly had one out of two options in her opinion, continuing to battle with her brain and live with a misdiagnosed illness or leaving this earth. 2012 brought a number of unannounced surprises. Just three months later my eldest sister, my best friend attempted to commit suicide after been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder earlier in 2012. This incident held a great toll on our family emotionally. My mother, an identical twin, and a mother of three became extremely hard on not only herself but me as well. She pushed me even harder to become self-sufficient, and to succeed in life so that I am never faced with making a decision where either outcome were detrimental to my health or …show more content…
In confidence I can say, ‘I now know my purpose in life’. Inspiring others to live their best lives, to live life to their fullest potential; to research underlying factors of a problem and resolve it. I told myself, ‘I will help whoever I can and try to prevent them from going through what I did’. I am thankful for all the trials and obstacles I've encountered because without the struggle I would never have known my strength, capability and the drive I have within myself. With this beautiful change in my life, I am no longer in a toxic relationship, I started to rebuild friendships and relationships, interested in a new study field, started working with children and families diagnosed with Autism, and volunteering at hospitals and small facilities. I simply look at life through a new lens. If anyone had told me a few years ago that everything would get better, I would have nodded while screaming disbelief inside my head. I thought things simply could not get better, that I’d forever feel imprisoned in a dark room. However, understanding the beautiful human brain helped me control and grasp my life. I gained an understanding of how injury and disease of different types and in different locations can alter a person’s life. I have been granted a second chance at life and a second chance to go head first and accomplish new