Hi guys! Today I wanted to talk about someone very special in my life. You see there are two people in my life that are teaching me lots of things, the first one is my sister, the second one is my brother. I want to talk about them, but they are both so special and their struggles are so different that I decided to blog about them separately. So I'm going to start with my sister, ladies first right?
A little background about her, my sister has always been a daddy's girl, while I was running off doing my own thing, she was holding on to mom and dad for dear life. I remember her crawling into dad's arms while he rested on his hammock. My parents never really lived together when we were little, dad lived with grandma and grandpa so when we were over at their house (which was always) my sister would spend a lot of time in dad's room. She would cry about EVERYTHING!! My mom even made up a nickname for her based on the fact that she cried so often. Back in the day we would always make fun of her because of how selfish she was, if all of us got candy, she would purposely eat hers later than anyone else so that later on we went to ask her for some and she could say no. I know, vicious. She was the sweetest little girl, at the age of 5 she started to basically raise my little brother, she took on the role of nanny, not because anyone asked her to, simply because she wanted to. She has always been very emotional and sympathetic. Never the leader, always a follower, that was her comfort zone. When her first tooth fell, she cried for hours because she didn't want to grow up, she wanted to stay a kid forever. Reality had hit her that she had to grow up, but reality didn't stop there.
A couple of years ago, or maybe last year, my sister was diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder, it's a mental illness in which your mood really changes with the seasons, so in the summer she feels better than in the winter, winter is cold and gloomy and that really brings her down. She also struggles with depression and I know for a fact that she has struggled with her self esteem. I only found out about her diagnosis a few days ago.
I believe that the source of that was my parent's divorce. When we were little my sister and I were constantly together (I'm older but we are only a year apart) and we did everything together, we had the same friends and sometimes we even ended up in the same classrooms. But in jr high that changed, we changed, and we changed because life changed. The divorce made me angry and hateful and I closed up, I made my own world away from my family. I don't know what it did to my sister but I know that when high school came, she no longer was the little girl I used to know. The real world had hit her, she was growing up, a divorce, failed friendships, broken relationships with family, deaths, all of that forces you to grow up. The realization that my dad, the only man she will always love more than her future husband, screwed up big time really shook her world. For many years my sister has not had it easy, but she's a warrior.
My sister is teaching me about strength. She has changed so much, she used to be quiet and shy and just follow whatever I was doing, now she's outgoing and she has her own hobbies, she's her own leader. Some days are better than others, some days I can tell she has been crying, or that something happened, but the next day she still gets up ready to go and face the world, ready to face the fact that she's no longer a child. She's teaching me that a broken heart can only stop you if you let it weigh you down. As she learns to rise above her diagnosis and her troubles, I learn how blessed I am to have her as my sister and how much stronger she's becoming day by day. This little girl that used to cry about every little thing is now this strong young woman who is not afraid of who she is, who she wants to become and what God is gonna throw at her in the future.
She is one of the funniest people I have ever met and she will tell it like it is. She is not afraid to tell you how she feels, her opinion is her own and if you don't like it that's your problem, that's her attitude. I am so proud of who she is becoming. The best part about my sister's story is that her circumstances have not changed, she has. She has learned to carry whatever weight is being thrown at her, I think that's so admirable. She's a role model to me and I admire her strength to be whoever she wants to be and to keep dreaming of a brighter future despite what is going on in life now.
I hope her story encourages you to keep fighting. I have never seen her give up and I know I will never see a day that she gives up, because although life has forced her grow up, inside her heart she's still that sweet little girl that will always be a child.
~Diana :)
A little background about her, my sister has always been a daddy's girl, while I was running off doing my own thing, she was holding on to mom and dad for dear life. I remember her crawling into dad's arms while he rested on his hammock. My parents never really lived together when we were little, dad lived with grandma and grandpa so when we were over at their house (which was always) my sister would spend a lot of time in dad's room. She would cry about EVERYTHING!! My mom even made up a nickname for her based on the fact that she cried so often. Back in the day we would always make fun of her because of how selfish she was, if all of us got candy, she would purposely eat hers later than anyone else so that later on we went to ask her for some and she could say no. I know, vicious. She was the sweetest little girl, at the age of 5 she started to basically raise my little brother, she took on the role of nanny, not because anyone asked her to, simply because she wanted to. She has always been very emotional and sympathetic. Never the leader, always a follower, that was her comfort zone. When her first tooth fell, she cried for hours because she didn't want to grow up, she wanted to stay a kid forever. Reality had hit her that she had to grow up, but reality didn't stop there.
A couple of years ago, or maybe last year, my sister was diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder, it's a mental illness in which your mood really changes with the seasons, so in the summer she feels better than in the winter, winter is cold and gloomy and that really brings her down. She also struggles with depression and I know for a fact that she has struggled with her self esteem. I only found out about her diagnosis a few days ago.
I believe that the source of that was my parent's divorce. When we were little my sister and I were constantly together (I'm older but we are only a year apart) and we did everything together, we had the same friends and sometimes we even ended up in the same classrooms. But in jr high that changed, we changed, and we changed because life changed. The divorce made me angry and hateful and I closed up, I made my own world away from my family. I don't know what it did to my sister but I know that when high school came, she no longer was the little girl I used to know. The real world had hit her, she was growing up, a divorce, failed friendships, broken relationships with family, deaths, all of that forces you to grow up. The realization that my dad, the only man she will always love more than her future husband, screwed up big time really shook her world. For many years my sister has not had it easy, but she's a warrior.
My sister is teaching me about strength. She has changed so much, she used to be quiet and shy and just follow whatever I was doing, now she's outgoing and she has her own hobbies, she's her own leader. Some days are better than others, some days I can tell she has been crying, or that something happened, but the next day she still gets up ready to go and face the world, ready to face the fact that she's no longer a child. She's teaching me that a broken heart can only stop you if you let it weigh you down. As she learns to rise above her diagnosis and her troubles, I learn how blessed I am to have her as my sister and how much stronger she's becoming day by day. This little girl that used to cry about every little thing is now this strong young woman who is not afraid of who she is, who she wants to become and what God is gonna throw at her in the future.
She is one of the funniest people I have ever met and she will tell it like it is. She is not afraid to tell you how she feels, her opinion is her own and if you don't like it that's your problem, that's her attitude. I am so proud of who she is becoming. The best part about my sister's story is that her circumstances have not changed, she has. She has learned to carry whatever weight is being thrown at her, I think that's so admirable. She's a role model to me and I admire her strength to be whoever she wants to be and to keep dreaming of a brighter future despite what is going on in life now.
I hope her story encourages you to keep fighting. I have never seen her give up and I know I will never see a day that she gives up, because although life has forced her grow up, inside her heart she's still that sweet little girl that will always be a child.
~Diana :)