Name: Eleisida Almonte

Professor: Mary Hoeffel

English 098
October 20, 2017
Final draft Essay 2

People can overcome things like childhood trauma and abuse in order to create better

lives.

The past is in fact part of our history which cannot be erased. Experiences lived

during the first 5 years are very important for the construction of children’s personality. At

that age the kids are creating their conception about themselves and their idea about the

world around them. In other words the past will have an impact in the adult’s life. If the

experience is negative or traumatic in general, people could think that the impact will be

negative; however, this is not necessarily the case. Charles Blow in chapter 4th of his book

“Fire Shut Up in My Bones” describes how he overcomes the trauma and how he created an

accurate life as adult. Despite he had lived with bad memories about the sexual abuse, he

was able to use the traumatic event to learn from it and develop some skills to stop the

abuse in first time. Also he learned how to avoid to being abused again. By other hand he

could identify his strengths and personal limits. He exploded in good way his abilities and

took advantages from the relationship of the people who he related. The Blow experience is

a good example that helps us understand that a unhappy childhood don’t determine the life;

instead, while some people allow childhood’s negative experiences to impact negatively

their lives, others are insightful enough to overcome from them and create better lives.

First, people overcome difficult situations and create better lives if they know

themselves. The self-knowledge is a powerful tool to face the adversities if people know

how use it in their favor. People who know themselves are aware of their strengths and

weakness. They can establish objective goals and look to reach their dreams using the

available resources. When I was 15 years old I lived a traumatic event. A hurricane which
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caused a flood that destroyed our house. I felt all negative sequel of PTSD, such as anxiety,

sleep disturbance, and difficulty of concentration; however, I knew that I am very persistent

and optimist and I knew what the goals of my life were. I focused in my dreams and the

possibilities that I had to reach it. So, I continued the high school and finished it. At time I

thought that I couldn’t stop my life because a negative and unexpected event happened;

instead, I had the commitment of changing the state which the disaster left me. When the

people know their potentiality, and they look for the way to explode it, they have the

possibility to overcome whatever traumatic lived experience.

Second, people tend get over traumatic experiences because they see the problems

as opportunities to learn from them. Throughout life we have to face many painful

situations which take our motivations away. If people take the crisis as an opportunity to

learn from it, they are more likely to generate changes for themselves and their relatives.

When I faced the hurricane consequences, I was aware that the situation was sad for

everyone around me; but also, I knew that I had an opportunity to make my life better than

before. Because we lived near a riverside, I spent all my childhood with fear of floods.

When the hurricane happened, I immediately thought that my fear became real but I was

still alive; so, I had to do something because I didn’t want to live on the riverside for the

rest of my life. When people learn how take advantage of the obstacles and adversities,

they won’t be traumatized forever.

Finally, people who move through the adversities recognize they need social

support from other people around them. To overcome a traumatic incident is necessary the

support from people that could help to recover the emotional stability. That help might

come from a friend, a professional or whatever person that could impact us positively.

When I was stressed because the hurricane effects; all neighborhood were stressed too. I

had my best friend, Irlanda, from 8th grade, whose family had overcome a disaster caused
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by a big fire few years early. They lost their house and about one hundred houses burned in

their neighborhood that day. Irlanda’s family became to being like my second family. They

gave me a valuable emotional support. We shared frequently about how they felt when they

lost their home. When we rather, they made me laugh a lot. Irlanda came to pick me and

took me to her house to spend more time with me. I felt I was not alone. If people who pass

a traumatic event make relationship with helpful and positive attitude folks, they can pull

through themselves from traumatic event and get better lives.

Those who had lived traumatic experience can go from victims to trauma survivors

if they do the three following things: They follow their goals by expanding their

potentiality and accepting their weaknesses. They open their mind looking the opportunity

behind the adversities to do new things, to learn and grow. They create a solid support

network that can sustain them in the most difficult moments. In conclusion, I think our life

is our responsibility. Even though in childhood is difficult to get the control over all events,

at adult stage we might trace a map of our life, using the past as a bridge through which

jump to a better present and a successful future.