To be me is to be spontaneous, Nervous and optimistic.

I think of myself as spontaneous

because I am always ready for an adventure, for a challenge. Whether I go through my

adventures alone or with a friend, I don’t let anything hold me back from possible

experiences. If I allowed myself to be held back I’d most likely spend a large amount of

time wondering what it would have been like if I did that ONE thing. Usually I am the

one who comes up with ideas and plans. Sometimes it’s a late night drive to get some

ice cream and other times it’s a two hour drive to go to LA, have some tacos from Leo’s

Taco truck, and walk around Hollywood boulevard just to get out of my regular routine.

If my friends ever suggest anything like wanting to take a sudden trip to the beach,

without hesitation.. I would say yes! This recent summer of 2019 I did the biggest

spontaneous act of my life.. alone. I had planned to go on a trip with my friends to San

Francisco to go to a two day concert but unfortunately they weren’t able to go through

with it because of personal and financial issues. The two day concert is called Vans

Warped Tour. This was their last and final tour before completely disappearing forever. I

had already planted in my head that I was absolutely, under no circumstances, going to

this concert. I then proceeded to book my plane ticket, air B&B, and concert ticket. Next

thing I knew I spent four amazing days alone in a city I have never been before. I made a

few friends, explored as many spots as I could, and saw all of my favorite childhood

bands live as I sang my little heart out. Despite my eagerness to go out and do things for

the sake of being reckless, I feel like being stressed is a huge part of me as well. I worry

too much and I constantly feel as if I have too much on my plate. Imagine a plate that

just keeps getting heavier and heavier no matter how much is being removed, it
continues to pile up. I’m constantly needing to watch that plate and remove as much as

I can from it. If I stopped, then eventually everything will tip over and create a big mess.

I constantly have family issues at home and they always come to me for a solution and

sometimes I don’t exactly have the right answer. I worry about my education, myself,

and my work. Millions of thoughts run through my mind every day. What will I do about

this current issue? How can I help my family? How will I do this assignment on time?

Where can I escape? With stress also comes optimism for me. Being optimistic about my

situations is a key part of who I am. It is not to say that I don’t get pushed down from

time to time but I don’t allow myself to be down for long. It’s also not the easiest but if

you keep an open mind and act against your emotions, you will surely begin to feel like

yourself again. I like to read articles about other persons experiences and what they did

to bring their positive energy back. It gives me an insight and ideas of what I can do to

help myself during those times. Listening to music and doing something I love such as

drawing or playing with my dog Charlie helps too. By removing all of the bad energy, it

also removes any negative thoughts and makes room for positive ones. Many Things

make up who I am but those three that I listed makes me up the most. I am Yessenia

Valenzuela. Was originally suppose to be Yessenia Galeana. Unfortunately my parents

weren’t great at planning out their children—anyways.. I am 22 years old. It amazes how

far I have came in life because there has been countless times where I just wanted to

give up. I’m so proud of myself. I have struggled, as many others do, with figuring out

what I want to do with my life and my schooling. Now that I have matured over the

years, I’m beginning to really think about my future in a responsible and stable way. I
am currently majoring in psychology and I’m positive that I am going to stick with it. I

have two more semesters to go here at College of the Desert before I transfer to a 4-

year school. I am not sure what school I want to go to yet but my top three options stay

at, The University of Riverside, Fresno, and San Bernardino. There are many fields and

careers that you can get into while going through the path of psychology. I’m set on

wanting to be either a child psychologist or a social worker but I know I should keep an

open mind because my decisions tend to always fluster. I have five brothers which

makes me the only female sibling. It was fun growing up the only girl because I learned

to be strong and independent as well as having the reassurance that I will have

someone to defend me at any time I need it. I have a wonderful Grandmother who I

dedicate my entire life to. When I was about the age of four my mother was not in the

correct state to take care of four little boys and one little girl. My brothers and I had

gotten separated into different foster homes and my mom disappeared for a while in

order to stabilize herself. My Grandmother from my father’s side couldn’t bare to see a

family being broken. She took matters into her own hands and fought for custody rights

and from then on we were all raised by her. Later my mother had appeared once again,

healthy and ready to reconnect with her children—but from a distance. She would visit

every once in a while. My relationship with my mother is more like a friendship. As for

my father, he unfortunately was never in the picture. He passed away about a month

before my due date but I know if he was around he would have been the best father

ever. Back to my brothers, I have three older and two younger which makes me one of

the middle children. My oldest is now living his independent life with a job, children, and
a wife. I am so happy for him. Sadly, my second and third oldest aren’t doing so well,

they are both in state prison. Both for different reasons. It disappoints me but we can’t

help them better their lives if they don’t want to help themselves. My two youngest are

doing alright, they’re still trying to figure themselves out and I hope they achieve that. I

have the cutest, most innocent, and playful Cockered Spaniel mix named Charlie. I

named him Charlie because of that one viral video, “ Charlie Bit My Finger. “ There is so

much to who a person is and im glad I have all of these memories and people that make

me, me.