Esmeralda Petia G nah Loney ‘ Survey of Nonfiction Personal Ess Before continuing reading please take a minute to notice your surroundings... Exercise your senses and let yourself soak in everything you feel, smell, see, taste, and hear around you. Within a brief moment you might notice something in your presence that you had not really taken into consideration until now. The mind can do marvelous things and ean make us realize beautiful details when we take the time to focus. My destiny in life began when I became the youngest child to the Pefia family. 1 was introduced to this world by living in a house which was always busy, loud and hectic. Although ‘we love each other to death, it could become a chaotic place to be living in a three bedroom home with cight people. We cach had our own hobbies or activities which kept us sane from the mayhem. My oldest sister would go to the library to study with friends and two of my brothers would play at the park. As for me, | was always outside surrounding myself by nature while reading a book. Nature, like water and wind, seemed to play as my major calming factor when it came to stressful situations, During the springs and summers I would sit on the porch and enjoy reading my books with the sounds of nature as background music. I remember always being a detail oriented person when it came to reading, and especially when it came to the use of my five senses. I enjoyed every detail of what I experienced while being outside, [ loved to hear the windrustling through the leaves of the trees and the birds chirping melodies to one another, 1 would feel the hot rays of the sun tingling on my skin or watched the cold perspiring drops of water sliding down my cup. All of these simple things that we often consider as insignificant were what kept me calm through the days and nights. Maybe I am appreciative of nature because the natural elements seem to be continuous. 1 love the freedom that nature expresses by only existing. Nature has no boundaries. Nature does not abide to the rules and restrictions set by man. Among all things, natures’ existence is longer than any living being on Earth, Have you ever wondered why tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes are called natural disasters? Humans may have a role in why they occur, but they are made by nature ~the wind, the water, and the earth below our feet, Next time you serve yourself a cold refreshing glass of water think about where the water in your glass has been, Every single drop we consume has been on Earth for thousands of years. Each glass of water could contain drops that have crossed the seven seas; they could have been part of « hurricane or tsunami. Any single drop of water could have given life to thousands of plants or they could be the same drops of water homo sapiens drank thousands of years ago as well. ‘These are some thoughts which have crossed my mind while I was in the presence of nature, Similar to what I have done with water, I can set my focus on one object and think of all the purposes and uses it could have throughout its life span. If one single drop of water can be part ofa hurricane, give life to plants, be a rain drop and our drinking water, then what can we do to achieve as much greatness in our own lives and several purposes?“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water, If you put water into « cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You pul it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash, Be water, my friend.” -Bruce Lee I cherish Bruce Lee’s advice because it holds true in retrospect and | am glad that my parents hold similar values. Being a daughter of immigrant, my parents taught me to conquer all boundaries placed in my way, to absorb diversity of any kind, and to value my education in reaching for goals which at « glance seem impossible, I have had the chance to diversify myself by moving from place to place. I have had the opportunity to experience and was exposed to various places while I was growing up, Migrating, across two countries, four stat s, eight cities, three elementary schools, one middle school. and three high schools only scratches the surface, It was not until high school where | really began to diversity myself with friends of different religions and ethnicities. | went to Hall High School for my freshman and sophomore year where | became really good friends with people from Iraq. China and Brazil, Ofien time they were new to the United States and could only communicate with me by using translated dictionaries, expressing through hand gestures and by drawing in a notebook. While I was getting to know them and helping them with their English. they would teach me a few words andphrases from their languages. | [ell in love with the idea of having the chance to know their home countries as well. [ understand that language plays like a secret key to a new culture, Although I already know how to communicate in English and Spanish, { have always been interested in learning even more languages. | was then fortunate to attend the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Science and the Arts during my junior year of high school where I met people from even more places. | made friends who were Hmong, Indian, Pakistani, Muslim, Hindus, and several others from Europe, Meeting various people so often encouraged me to take French for two years. | did not become fluent in French, but I did learn several useful phrases that ! could one day use in the future. | am. currently considering continuing my French studies at UALR next semester. Regardless of where 1 was going or what | was doing | have always had the urge to stepping out of my comfort zone and allow myself to soak in as much knowledge of the world as I can, Of all the friends { have made over the years, I have come to the conclusion that although we all come from different places, different religions, different cultures, and different languages, we do not cease to be human. Although everyone is unique we all seem to reach to sustain happiness and kindness through expressing our humanity and good virtues towards others, I may live like a vagabond but I havé leamed a lot from exposing myself to new ideas. Overall | have learned that we should all embrace change. Our lives are not like broken records repeating the same things over and over again, We are complex beings who have the will power to make choices, consider the possibilities and act upon those thoughts. The world is aharmoniously chaotie place to be, but we have the opportunity to decide to adapt with change or fade away with the old times. We should expect everything to eventually change because the only constancy in life is change. It would be nice to live in 72° F weather all year, but as we all know the seasons are constantly changing, Take into consideration that each season has its unique traits from the ones prior or after it Believe it or not, we are constantly changing as well. Mentally we change when we expose ourselves 10 new concepts and ideas. Over the years we are also changing with age and physical growth. According to science, within a span of seven to ten years, every single cell on ‘our body is essentially replaced by new cells, We are talking about 62.5 trillion cells in our body that are replaced ~skin, hair, blood, hair, nails, intestines, and organs. How exactly are they replaced? Our cells are replaced by new cells that are made of the nourishment we provide ourselves, or in other words, what you cat. “You are what you eat.” A subtle way of people telling us, are you really wondering why you gained ten pounds during Christmas break? But let us think about that phrase technically. You are what you eat. This statement is a fact, not an opinion. Our body feeds off of the nutrients we receive from the food that we consume. If you eat fast food and chocolates on a daily basis your body would look very different from someone whose diet consist of eats fresh fruits, vegetables and seafood. Look down at your hands for a moment, Take a good thirty seconds to get a really detailed look of your hands. Look at the front and back of your hands, between the knuckles, your nails, and any little scar you might have on them. The same hands you have in front of youwill not be the same ones you will see in ten years. Your nails will have grown out and trimmed You will have had your share of ashy days, or maybe sunburn, or rubbing your hands to hard that make your skin cells fall off and grow back new again, Now do you understand what I mean by being completely replaced? Although we are growing of age, knowledge, strength and wisdom, our bodies are in a constant struggle to stay alive while replacing dying cells with new ones. We exist in the now but our bodies will one day reach a point that it cannot be able to reproduce new cells and we will decay. Our bones in the caskets will become dust and combine with the soil which will nourish the flowers that many years from now will grow above us. Do not feel bad about death though. Death is just another part of life and is inevitable.