No matter where you come from, the community you grew up with will have an everlasting impact on you for the rest of your life. However horrible or amazing your childhood was, you have those experiences to thank for where you've ended up now. Just think, if you didn't grow up in the environment you did, would you be the same person you are today?
From kindergarten all the way to 12th grade, I went to public schools. It wasn't until high school that I realized how diverse my town was compared to a lot of other areas in the state. When I would go to see my brother's soccer games, I would quickly realize that, while my brother's team was a wide mix of ethnicities, the opposing team would usually all be the same. Going into college was a huge culture shock for me, in a different way than most people would think. Instead of coming from a parallel environment, I was actually entering a small scale one. Coming from the divergent community will forever be a part of me, for better or for worse.
Jasmina Siderovski said, "Never forget your past; it's the foundation that built your existence and the secret to your future." If there is one thing I will advocate for more than anything, it is: don't stress over things that you can't change. That doesn't mean, however, that you can't learn from those things. The past is something that people either try to hold onto or completely forget. What people often forget about the past, though, is that they owe their pasts for everything they've become today. Things that hurt you, things that made you smile, all of that led you to the place you're at now.
Every day, we make new choices, go through new experiences, and feel different things in different lights. Just because something now feels better than the past ever did, should never mean you push it from your memory. We all can only hope things get better from where we are now, but where would be if we didn't have that particular roof over our head or that one person in our lives growing up?
Your roots are the family that raised you, whether they be your actual parents, your siblings, your extended family, or people that aren't blood but might as well be. Your roots are the ones that brought you here, the ones that pushed you to succeed and encouraged you to chase what you love. Your roots are the friends that became family somewhere along the way. Trying to forget the ones who built you up is a waste of time because at the end of the day, whether you appreciate all they did for you or not, they did do something for you. They made you, you.
