The Journey (8B)

   "Always smiling, even on bad days"

When all of us Freshman attended orientation we were handed a book called My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor.  I think that a lot of things can be learned from this book if people take the time to actually read it.  Sonia faced many struggles in her life.  She has positive attitude though.  This is how she reached her goal to be what she dreamed to be.  Sonia had diabetes at an early age in her life, and her father passed away when she was young as well.  She was very stronger though.  This can relate to college students and can teach them, that life isn't easy and there will be hardships throughout your life, but that doesn't mean you cant be successful.  Sonia also has a very strong bond with each and every one of her family members and shows it really strongly.  Her and her mom never really got along at first and the bond wasn't really there at the beginning, but as the novel went on they worked on their relationship and became closer than they ever were.  Just like kids who don't see their families in college all the time.  This shows to always keep them in your thoughts because they are always going to be there through the challenges and whenever you have problems.

I believe this book shows people to not be afraid to open up to our families and to let out our struggles and the challenges that you may be facing in your life.  Sonia never mentioned that she was suffering with the diabetes until she passed out which is when everyone found out the news.  I feel that many people have problems, and some like to keep it to themselves, when really holding it in is getting you no where.  We shouldn't be afraid to seek out and let out all the problems instead of letting them build up inside of us.  Everyone has their own personal story.  Sonia gives off the vibe of meeting new people and learning about their cultures and to support the different ways of people living.  This can give us a better understanding of the world.  

Here at SOuthern, it is full of many different cultures and many different types of people.  Sonia I think teaches students to never give up, and that you can always improve on anything.  I feel that Sonia is a very strong willed woman, and her attitude towards all of her challenges she faced was awesome.  She never gave up and kept going forward even with all the hardships.  I believe that we should never take anything for granted, push ourselves to pursue our dreams, and work as hard as we can, because if you give everything you got, there's no way you can't get what you want.