Szuba 1

Lillian Szuba

Mrs. Cramer

College Comp Pd. 1

18 September 2020

“Investing in your own growth, and self-development isn't selfish; it’s self-care,” author

unknown. As you get older, you become more mature in certain aspects of your life. Your group

of friends changes, and you realize that not everyone has the best intentions for you.

Over the summer, an event took place that has happened multiple times before, except

this time I finally realized that it was toxic. This girl and I were friends for a little over ten years,

and she had this other friend who I didn’t like. When my friend, we’ll call her Isabella, would get

into a fight with her friend Adrianna, they would stop being friends. After they were no longer

friends, I was her “best friend.” When they would make up, and be friends again, I was pushed

aside like I was dirt. This happened repeatedly over the ten-year span of our friendship; I finally

just realized that this is not how a friendship is supposed to work, and I stopped being friends

with her.

Within the last three months my mom and I left a toxic household as well. Living there

was just not good for the mental health of either of us. Before we moved, we would get

physically ill from the amount of stress we had to deal with, and we were constantly sick. My

mom and I were tired all the time, even if we had gotten a full nine hours of sleep. I would get

eight and a half hours of sleep on a school night, then come home and sleep again for three-four
 Szuba 1

hours before going to bed. After moving, however, we are less tired and can function better than

we used to be able to. Which gives me the impression that we were physically exhausted by what

we were going through. All in all, this move has been extremely healthy for us.

I’ve learned from all the experiences that have happened; to me I can understand why

someone leaves and how sometimes you need to be the person to leave in order to be healthy and

grow as a person. By coming back to Bradford, I have also realized how friends are supposed to

treat you. This whole experience has helped me to grow to become a better daughter, friend, and

student. In the future, I’m going to try and not let someone else treat me that way again, and if I

see my friends struggling with mental health, I will try my best to help them.