Questions lead to stories, and the stories lead to unexpected answers I was unprepared to hear. It showed me how little interest I had in my family 's hardships and history, and how much more I 've now come to appreciate them. My family would always point me towards the right path in life generally, and especially for school; they wanted to see me do well in life, but I would disregard all that they did and said. I didn 't see all the good that could 've come from their advice; they only wanted to help me. I now look back on all of their criticism, especially when it came to my studies for school, and I now see it more as an influence, rather than a burden. To me, an influential figure isn 't so much a definition, but more so a person, or people who motivate me to be the best person I can be. It 's difficult choosing the single most influential figure in my life because each family member individually makes up a piece of the whole. Together, it helps create the well-rounded representation of who I aspire to …show more content…
I didn 't take all that I was given for granted, and I took every past situation my family had to make a better and more mature, Marina. Instead of putting myself down with what my brothers ' did, I used it as motivation; seeing them as influential figures, one day hoping I can be at the same level as them. I saw my grandparent 's hardships of immigrating to America and losing everything they ever knew as a major influential part of my upbringing. I took in all that they told me and used it to create a stronger and more headstrong self. I didn 't let much slow me down, if I wanted to get things done I did it right then and there. It was at that time I saw a new self-form before my very