Breaking Barriers

As a little girl, I always dreamed of graduating with a college degree. It's funny because I had no idea what I wanted my major to be and at the same time, no one else in my family had graduated high school nor even aspired to attend a university. It was never expected of me to attend college, but something in my heart always pushed me to higher education.

When I was a senior in high school, I realized that my grades were NOT what was required to get into a good university... or any university for that matter. Regardless, I applied to several universities and I didn't get accepted anywhere. When I say I didn't get accepted anywhere, I mean it; I wasn't accepted to a single university (to the ones I actually applied to). I was devastated. I knew my parents weren't disappointed, but I was.

Shorty after I graduated I was not very motivated to apply to a community college, but at this point it was my only option. I struggled to keep my focus and I was constantly choosing my social life over school. In all honesty, it was hard to follow my heart when I felt like the odds weren't exactly in my favor. 

Like I said, my grades in high school weren't the best, and I knew that I could accomplish more. It was a matter of me having to break the habits of making my social life a priority, but making a balance between being a student and having a social life. 

Here's some quick tips to break those very annoying barriers:

1. Stay connected with your goals

• Picture where you want to be, write it down, or even make a board with cool motivational phrases and pictures and stick it in your forehead, just kidding; stick it in your bathroom mirror. If you're constantly connected with your goals, you will keep your head in the game.

2. Hang out with people with similar goals

• When you spend time with people who share similar goals with you, they will help you stay on track! Accountability partners are literally worth gold!

3. Break out of the cycle 

• It is very easy to believe that you can't do it because no one you know has done it before. SNAP OUT OF IT!

4. Believe in yourself like no else will

• Your goals are YOURS! Picture them, want them, get them! Surround yourself with positive energy and love everything that you do in the process!

​Quick ending to my story, I graduated community college in two years as an Honors student. As of now, I'm attending San Diego State University and I'm getting my bachelors degree in Communication and Media Relations in May 2018. I believed so hard in my dreams that I was able to break my family's barriers and my negative habits. Being the first one in my family to get a degree in a university allowed me to believe that anything is possible if you are able to believe in yourself and believe in your goals, you just have to set your mind to it. ​

Community college graduation, May 2015.