As a kid growing up, I believed that everything was easy to get my hands on and that finding a good-paying job was just as easy. For me, life was kind of like fun and a rollercoaster at the same time. There are lots of challenges and obstacles you have to go through in order to get what you want. As a young kid from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, it wasn’t as easy as other people painted it to be. I grew up in a city where not a lot of people could get out. Growing up wasn’t easy, and I had to start from the beginning. From having no friends, not knowing the place I was brought to, struggling to learn English and having no communication skills with others around me, at the time, money wasn’t something I didn’t have, and my parents worked hard to support me and my little sister. It was hard at times when help was needed, but we still got through those hard times and challenges.
My parents were both young at the time; my father was about 26 and my mother was about 21. They were learning at the time to be the best parents they could possibly be, but, of course, they were not always the best all the time. My father dropped out of college because he felt empty without playing his favorite sport, American football, and my mom also dropped out of high school due to having me at the time. They gave up their education and dreams to raise me and my sister, so my parents always expected me to be this nice kid that was going to grow up and have lots of money with a career, like any other Hispanic parent would think at the time for their child. My parents have always supported me throughout all the circumstances in my life and have given me advice on almost everything you can think of in this world. There were certain moments that were very hard for me, and nobody was there for me, so during those times I had to figure it out for myself. Making that translation in life was hard for me because I was struggling to keep up and overcome that struggle.
My younger self wouldn’t understand why I was brought to a whole different country. All I knew was that this place had a lot of opportunities and lots of buildings and people. I came from the Dominican Republic, where not a lot of kids had the opportunity to go to school or have the money to support their families. As a kid, my parents always expected me to be the person they imagined I would be, but I always told them that it wasn’t as simple as they thought. My father would always tell me that I should do what they say when it comes to my future, but I told them that a kid has the right to do anything in life, not just become the person they wanted me to be. It took a long time for him to understand, but he soon noticed that as long as this kid makes money and supports his family, then he will be good in the long run.
Younger me was always a quiet one and often didn’t like to talk out loud or in front of people because I was afraid that people would judge me for not knowing English. This would affect me in class because I would not even raise my hand or talk out loud during a class discussion. When it came to parent-teacher conferences, my teachers would say I would mostly lack motivation and need help with my social skills in class. The teachers at my school didn’t teach well and were always ignoring students. But out of all the teachers in my school, there was always one teacher that saw in me and knew that I had the potential to succeed and overcome those challenges, but I didn’t see that in me at the time. I was struggling to keep up with other students in class, and my English was terrible. It was to that point that I even got bullied for not knowing English. It got to the point where I did not want to go to school or even be near anyone because I was afraid that I was going to get made fun of again.
Moving on and meeting new friends while in school was a big accomplishment for me and played a big role in the person I am today. Having friends in and outside of school made it really easy for me to socially interact with new people I didn’t know and also helped me discover new places I didn’t know. I was raised to be a straight “A” student, especially by Hispanic parents in general. They want their kids to be as perfect as possible and to have lots of money, with a career, and a woman that can cook and talk to them as well. My father was always strict and tried to prevent me from hanging out with the wrong crowd and staying away from negative influences. I really appreciate him doing that and raising me to be the person I am today. But there were certain times when he was way too strict with me, and it really interfered with me socializing with others around me.
Overall, the challenges I have faced through my years of living in New York City were not easy for me and my family, but as life went on, I have learned to overcome those challenges and better myself as a person. Learning is an important part of growing and bettering yourself to be a better person. Something I’ve learned and witnessed firsthand in life is that you have to work hard to get what you want and get where you want to go. I can say that I learned a lot and overcame lots of challenges and hard times when growing up in the city. I believe now that it is not easy to get what you want in life. Now I have to work hard to get what I want. Some might hide them from others, and some might have none at all. Besides that, growing and learning are such a big part of maturing and releasing at the end that it was worth the risk and the challenge to continue to push to become the person I am today.
