Sometimes life is full of surprises, whether they are good or bad, we are not always ready for them. Fortunately, we have the ability to choose whether these obstacles change our lives for the better or for the worse.

This school year has been very difficult for me due to a major obstacle in my life. My grandmother, the woman who raised me, passed away in the middle of January, right when the Spring semester began. She became very ill at the end of the Fall semester in November and slowly her health began to decline.

This has made schooling very difficult because my mind has not been on school work, but more so on family. I have spent a lot of time going to California to spend time with my grandmother during her last weeks And then I had to help my family plan the memorial and we had to find a time where we could all meet.

We had a huge family reunion on behalf of my lovely grandmother and got a chance to spend time together and reminiscence of all the good times we had with her. It’s been difficult to go on with my life without her, but honestly I have received help from my friends and I decided to see the school’s psychologist at Embry-Riddle. He was very helpful and insightful and gave me great advice. I never thought I could ever ask for help, but when I started realizing that I wasn’t feeling up to par, I knew I needed help. Embry-Riddle has such helpful staff and understanding professors. I just told my professors about my loss and they have helped me to get through this semester. I am very lucky to be at this school, because I do feel like they care about me.

My advice for anyone who has to go through a stuff life-changing situation such as mine, is to try to see a professional and lean on your friends and family, it will help. And if you are in school, make sure you communicate with your professors, they will listen and they will understand and try to help you as much as possible. Although it takes a while, life does continue on. Just keep swimming, and soon your life will be back on track to where you want it to be.