Module 2: Core Assignment

OGL 482: Pro-Seminar II

March 21st, 2021

Erica Kovarik

Erica Kovarik’s Narrative

I am first going to start off by saying, I am not one that likes to talk about myself and

brag. But this is a narrative and all about me, so I really do have to open up and talk about the

good and the bad throughout my life. Even though I am not one to like to talk about myself, I

must say, I have a lot to talk about and could go on for days about myself. Again, this is about

me and what I stand for in life. I just want to start with this, one of my favorite quotes that I live

by is, live life to the fullest because you only get to live once. This is something that really

inspires me and what helps me keep moving. Thinking of this quote really allows me to live the

life I want to live and why I want to continue living.

So, let's start at the beginning. I was born on January 22nd, 1997 in a small town called

Cresco, Iowa. I was born to the parents of David and Connie Kovarik. I was the last addition to

my family. I joined my two siblings, Ashley the oldest, and my brother named Zach. Not only

was this a big day for my mom and dad, but it was also a special gift to my Grandmother Jean.

On the day I was born, she was celebrating her 60th birthday. For her 60th birthday, she was

gifted her last grandchild, which was me. I was the final grandchild of 17 on my mother’s side.

My mom was also their baby, so I was always called the baby of the family, as well. When it

comes to this day every year, this is something we truly celebrate and take in because it truly is a

special day for both of us and we love spending it together. I will forever cherish this day and

memories I have with her for the next foreseen years I get to continue spending with her.
 So, let’s continue on about me since this is all about me. Throughout my twenty-four

years of living, I have experienced and completed a lot of things. I attended all my elementary

school with Howard-Winneshiek Community School Districts and graduated High School early

my senior year at Crestwood High School in 2015. Throughout my school years I had

contributed in choir, art, musicals, softball, basketball, and was the boys’ basketball team

manager throughout high school. I also started babysitting when I was 11 years old and

continued doing so all up until I graduated high school and went off to college. I also started

working at A&W/ Long John Silver’s when I was 15 and was with them for 3 years, until I

moved off to college. I moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in August of 2015 to start my journey of

college with Kirkwood Community College. When I was at college, I also worked at a call center

called Ruffalo Noel Levitz and worked for Toyota Financial Services as an intern. After almost

completing my Associates Degree in Business Administration, I had made the decision to

continue my education with ASU online through their online program and obtain my bachelor’s

in organizational leadership. This was something very big to me, because I had never planned to

get my bachelor’s degree. The original plan was to just get my associates degree and then to start

my career in the workforce. But after completing a year already with my associates and realizing

how quickly it is going by, I had made the big decision to continue on because I realized that

many jobs that I wanted to obtained, required that I at least had a bachelors. I realized that after a

couple of years working, I did not want to then make the decision to go back to school. I felt that

I would never want to go back and complete it. So, I knew that if I wanted to do it, I needed to

continue on and do it now and obtain it. So, I started looking and exploring my options for my

Bachelors. That is when I came across ASU and their online program. It really allowed me to be

able to complete my schooling from anywhere I was and allow me to obtain and outstanding
degree that will help me in so many ways. I had made the decision to enroll in school with ASU

and continue on with my schooling with ASU after graduation. After completing my program at

Kirkwood Community College and graduating with my associate degree, I had the opportunity to

move back home and accept a job with our local hospital in town, Regional Health Services of

Howard County. I had accepted a financial associate’s position with them in their Business

Office full time. Moving back home allowed me to save on rent and be able to work full time and

attend school online through ASU. As of today, I am currently still working with Regional

Health Services of Howard County now and hope to continue growing with them in the future as

I finish my schooling with ASU. Now after 4 years of working hard and working full time and

being a full-time student, I am finally ready to graduate in May with my bachelor’s in

organizational leadership. I am so excited and ready to use my degree and achieve my goals

going forward in my life and career.

Now that I have addressed and told you about all my job experiences and schooling, let’s

talk about everything that is happening today and is present in life. Right now, I currently work

full time with Regional Health Services of Howard County in the Business Office. I also am a

full-time student completing my bachelor’s degree. Not only is this year a big year for me as I

graduate, I also am engaged and getting married on September 25th, 2021 to my soon to be

husband Tyler. Tyler and I have been together for 3 years now and I are so happy to be able to

soon call him my husband. I have learned in so many different ways that Tyler and I were made

for each other. He truly is my rock and has supported me through everything in my life.

Especially the bad and stressful moments I have experienced. Tyler and I bought a house

together in May of 2019 and this was a big first step for us and has been the best experience of

my life. I love doing this life with him. Tyler and I also have two fur babies that mean the world
to us. We have a dog named Daisy. Daisy is a half basset hound and half lab. We also have a

gray and white fluffy cat named Mert. We also have a combined total of 5 nieces that we love

spending time with and will always take the time to do things with them whenever we get the

chance. Family truly means the world to both of us and we try to spend as much time together as

we possibly can with each other's families. However, we do really truly enjoy spending are own

time together as a couple. Not only is Tyler my fiancé, but he also is my best friend.

Once again, I am going to say this, that I am not one that likes to talk about myself and

have to show off, but again this is my narrative and is supposed to be all about me, so I have to.

But when it comes to my true values and meaning in life, I really do feel that my past and

experiences that have happened in my life impact who I am today. They have built me to be the

person I am because of what I have been through. As I get older, I really appreciate what I all

have gone through. The negatives, the positives, the good times, the bad times, and even the sad

times. Even though at the time, I wish I never had to go through it or deal with it. All those times

and experiences I have gone through, allowed me to make my own decisions on who I want to be

and what I want to do with my life. It allows me to take control of my life and how I want to live

my life. My true top values in my life are helping others, honesty, meaningful work, close

relationships with family, and personal growth. These five values truly have such an impact on

me because of the experiences I have gone through to know that these are so valuable to me.

They are what I use and strive to be when it comes to what matters in my life.

Now when it comes to my values, I live my life by, there is one that sticks out to me more

than others. That value would be my relationships with family. Having that close and knit

relationship with my family is what completes me. It truly brings me joy. Now this has been

something valuable to me for a very long time. I feel the biggest reason this is so valuable to me
is because I have experienced personally so many losses within my close relationships and with

my own family members. The first big loss I had was my grandparents on my father’s side. My

Grandpa Kovarik had died when I was in third grade, and my Grandma Kovarik died when I was

in fifth grade. Both of them died in their early 60’s. They both died due to losing their battle to

cancer. This was a very big eye opener to me. Even though I was so young, I still understood that

my grandparents where never coming back. They didn’t get any more time to continue living

their life. They don’t get to continue watching their kids and their grandkids grow older. There

life was truly cut way shorter than they thought. Not only did I have to experience the loss of

them, but I also had to watch my father loss both of his parents at such a young age to cancer. He

struggled with losing them. It truly impacted his own thoughts of living life to the fullest and he

reflected those thoughts onto us kids as well. Then, when I was in high school and was only 15,

my cousin Andy, who was 23 at the time, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. At the time it

was discovered, the tumor was already the size of a football and was progressively growing. The

cancer spread quickly and had reached his brain shortly after them discovering it on his lung.

After just short of a year of him fighting his battle with cancer, he had lost his battle at the age of

24. This was a very hard loss for everyone in my family. It was truly an eye opener. Andy had

just graduated from college as an engineer and started his dream career at Caterpillar. Within not

only a couple months of being there, his life had flipped upside down when he was diagnosed

with cancer. He had just started his life and future career, just to find out that he was going to

loss his life shortly to cancer. As a family, are bond immediately started to grow closer and

closer. Watching and listening to Andy was truly a learning process and experience I will never

forget. This really opened up my eyes on the importance of life and what I valued most. It really

allowed me to know that we cannot take life for granted and we need to live our life the best
way. It always made me realize that I do not want to lose any of my own family members ever

again. It made me realize I want to keep my close relationships close and how valuable they truly

are to me. It is a blessing that I am able to have all my siblings still here with me today. This

value continues to show me how important family and those connections mean to me. It also

shows me that life can be short sometimes, so we cannot take are life for granted. We need to

live everyday to the fullest and do what makes us happy. We need to find are purpose in life and

live for that purpose.

Again, the importance of family and life was tested for me in October of 2020. My

mother’s parents have been blessed and have been able to see all their children and grandchild

grow up and have them as a part of their lives. They have had so many amazing opportunities

and have been apart of some of the biggest days of our lives. However, the last few years or so,

they have really started to slowly decline and their health has not been the best. My grandmother

and grandfather ended up in the hospital on the same day due to them trying to take care of each

other. At this time, it was chosen that the best option for them was to go into a nursing home

together in November after they were both released from the hospital. Now this was extremely

difficult decision my mom and her siblings had to make because we are in the middle of a

pandemic and putting them in a nursing home meant that we would not be able to see them or

have them come out to visit us whenever they wanted. They had to stay in the nursing home and

could not leave. However, even though I could not go visit her in person, I still tried to do my

best and call them and talk with them over the phone, so they knew we were there for them.

Come December 15th, 2020, I had gotten one of the biggest calls I never wanted to get. I had

mentally prepared myself for a long time that at some point I would get this call, but I did not

want it to ever happen. I had gotten the call that my grandpa had died in his sleep. He had gotten
up for the day and had went with Grandma for breakfast. After breakfast, he had come back and

was laying in his chair watching tv. He had drifted to sleep and my grandmother had thought he

was just napping. A nurse had come in after a while to check on them and give my grandpa his

bills and realized he was not responsive or breathing at all. It was at this point that they had

found that grandpa had peaceful crossed over in his sleep. My grandma was devasted and still

upset to this day because she was not able to official say goodbye to him. She just thought he

was taking a nap. This will forever be a day I will never forget. After having the honor of

spending 23 years of my life with him, he was finally at peace. Even though I never wanted this

day to come, I was able to finally come to peace that he was not suffering anymore and was in a

better place. This really opened up my eyes, once again, on how fast someone can be taken from

you. Someone that you love and care so dearly about. It truly made me realize once again that we

cannot take life for granted and that I want to keep my family relationship close. The experiences

I have gone through with losing my family members, makes me realize that I value close

relationships so much. They are one of my biggest and most important purposes in life. Without

my family, I would be lost. I truly feel that the experiences I have gone through impact this view

on why family and close relationships are so important to me.

Another big thing that impacted me on why close relationships with my family is so

important to me stems from my childhood all together from when I was little. When I try to think

back to all the old memories I had when I younger, most of them where just of mom and us kids.

That was because my dad was gone because he was in the army. It wasn’t till I was older that my

father had officially retired from the army after 20 years of being in the service. Now, granted

looking back, I feel that it was such an honor to have my dad go out and serve are country for 20

years. He was a superhero to me when I was a kid and still is to this day. However, even though I
was younger, I got to witness the stress and trauma it had put on my mother. It had affected her

in many ways. She had to continue working when he was gone, as well as raise 3 young kids. At

the time, as a kid, I did not understand why mom would be upset or frustrated with us. But after

now looking back as an adult, I realized that it was so hard for mom to be put through all this and

not have my dad be able to help her and be by her side at all times. It also I feel impacted my life

because I never go to see my dad when I was younger. He was allows going and not staying for

long. The days when he was home, I would cherish it because I got to spend time with him.

Some of my first memories I remember are with him. When I look back at old pictures, it shows

me so happy to be with him. I used to always want to spend as much time with him as I could

when he would be at home. It was hard and stressful for my mother. It put a lot of tolls on us as

kids as well. But it also allowed me to realize how much I value spending time with my parents

and as a family together. Every time my dad was home, we always spent that time together. I

truly think that is why I am so close to my parents now even at the age of 24. I feel it is because I

experienced so much time when I was younger without him and just mom, that now I want to

makeup for it and spend so much more time with him. I feel that spending that time with my

family is truly such a value to me and gives me so much purpose.

Another big thing that I find very important to me is personal growth. Personal growth is

something that I have to say, I hated at the beginning. I was stubborn and hated changes. Just like

I use to hate exercise. I did not want to admit that I needed to change and needed help. There was

a point in my life, that I thought that I was never going to be happy and that was how it was

going to be the rest of my life. When I think of the biggest triggering point in my life, when it

comes to personal growth, it takes me back to 6th grade. 6th grade was where things finally

really hit rock bottom for me and I had to finally admit that something was wrong and I needed
to change and get help. Otherwise, I am not exactly sure I would be here today. Which really

hurts me to think about it, as I am writing this today because there was a chance that I would

never be here today. But I had hit my breaking point and finally felt like I had failed and was

completely useless. The main factor to this was that I was bullied so much by mean girls in my

grade. This was something that had been going on for a couple years but continued to progress

more and more. They had taken advantage of me and pushed me down and made fun of me for

their own fun. One of the biggest things that they picked on me for was because I was not the

skinniest girl in are grade and because of my family. My last name was a known name and was

something that they held against me. I was just simply an easy target and it just took off from

there for them. At first, I just let it happen and would not let it get to me. Overtime, they would

get worse and worse and started to not only be verbal abuse, but physical. This was also the era

where social media was starting to grow and Facebook was new. I was still young and not

allowed to have Facebook, but my sister had discovered that they girls where posting nasty

things about me online that others could see, but I could not because I did not have Facebook or

social media. One day, I just could not take it anymore and they truly had pushed me to the edge

and that is when I truly opened up to my parents and broke down. It was at that point they knew I

needed help and something was wrong with me. I had finally admitted to them that I didn’t even

want to live anymore and that I just could not deal with it anymore. I was physically and

mentally done with everything in my life and wanted to give up on everything. I felt like I was

just useless and a failure. They had taken me to the doctor, where I later found out that I was

severely depressed and had major anxiety. My doctor had referred me to a therapist and a

psychiatrist that I went and met with. At first, I was one that was not accepting change and not

willing to. I never thought it would work or even help. I felt useless and that nothing could
change my thoughts or feelings. But I knew if I didn’t go, I would never be happy. After

countless visits with both of them, I was diagnosed with severe depression, anxiety, OCD, and

panic attacks. My psychiatrist was able to start me with some medicine to help me get to a better

state of mind, as well as my therapist help me guide me in the right direction to get help. I

quickly learned though that I was not going to get better unless I also make changes in myself. I

needed to start working on me and finding what made me happy. By doing this, I need to find

ways that I could improve myself and make myself a stronger person. This is really when I

started to see my personal development start to grow. If I didn’t work on my own personal

growth and development, I was never going to be happy or make changes. So that is when I

realized that I need to embrace change and find what makes me happy. I couldn’t just let people

use me and walk all over. I couldn’t let people get to me. I was no longer going to do things that

put me in the place that I felt unhappy. I started with making small changes. Then as I continue

to work my way on those changes, I continued to add more and more. To this day, I am still

working on this value every day because I am always trying to work on better ways to better

myself and accept personal development and growth. I feel that not only did my personal growth

save my life, but it also allowed me to find what truly makes me happy. It allowed me to find

things that I never thought I would ever have or would do. But it truly has made a difference in

my life and will continue to in my future.

Another big event that impacted my life and my personal growth was when I broke my

ankle / leg. This all happened when I was in high school. On Sunday morning, March 9th, 2021,

I had to work an all-day shift at A&W / Long John Silvers. That night before, a snowstorm had

come through leaving ice and fresh covered snow on top of the ice. I was an opener that

morning and had to be there bright and early to get things ready for the day. I had parked my car
in the parking lot and was ready to go in. Like usual, my boss had not cleaned off any of the

snow or ice in the parking lot. When I was walking in the parking lot right in front of the drive

thru, I all of a sudden started to slip on the ice underneath the snow. As a normal reaction, I tried

to catch myself and it only made it worse. I had slipped and fell directly on top of my ankle and

snapped it. The bone had also broken out of my skill and was just dangling. Immediately I

started screaming like bloody murder while laying on top of the freeze snow and ice. After a

minute went by, I finally realized that I had my phone in my purse and grab for that to call into

the restaurant to have someone come find me and help me. When my boss had answered the

phone, all I could do was scream. After about a minute of him hearing me scream, he realized

that he could also hear it outside and came running out to me. He found me right in front of the

drive through lane laying on the ground. At that point he knew what had happened and had ran

back in to get the two other cooks that were already in there. They all came out and tried to calm

me down. At this time, my boss Wayne had called my parents telling them what had happened

and that they needed to come to the restaurant. I wanted him to call the ambulance, but he

thought I didn’t need one and just have my parents drive me. After about 15 minutes, my dad had

finally showed up, and all 4 of them had to pick me up from the ground and carry me into the

back of my parent’s SUV. Once I was loaded, I thought we were heading to the hospital.

However, my mom was not in the vehicle yet and was still at home. We had to go and pick her

up, with me in the back screaming in pain. Once my mom got out of the vehicle, she realized

how bad the situation was and felt horrible, but then we were finally off to go to the hospital.

When I got to the hospital, my dad had run in to notify them I was in the vehicle, the EMT’s had

to come out and help me out to take me inside to the ER. At this time, they were frustrated

because they knew we had done more damage to it because I was moved and it was not stable.
They stated that I should have been picked up by ambulance so it wouldn’t cause more issues,

but at this point it was too late and I wanted the pain to end. Right away when the doctor came in

and looked at it, knew right away that they could not touch it and they would have to transfer me

to Mayo Hospital for a podiatrist. All they could do was put it in an air cast and have me sent by

ambulance to Rochester MN, which is around 60 miles. Being that we only have a rural health

clinic and hospital, they can only do so much when it comes to care and sometimes have to send

care out to get the best care. At this time, I was transferred to Mayo where I had to undergo

surgery for them to put my bone back in and put my ankle back into place with my leg and foot.

When I first woke up from that procedure, I instantly was relieved so much from pain, but had

realized what had all happened and how drastically things had changed in the flash of my eyes.

After seeing my parents in the room, the doctor had come in and addressed that I would need to

wait a couple days to let the swelling go down and then have another surgery to repair my ankle

and tibia and fibula because they were all still broken. After about 5 days, we had the surgery

and I had one big plate up and down my leg with an addition 7 big screens in place to hold it.

The doctor said that the surgery went really well, but the bad news was it was going to be a long

healing process. That meant that I really need to change a lot of things in my life in order for me

to be able to get back to walking normal again. For the next 16 weeks, I was not able to put any

weight on that leg or foot at all. I either had to use crutches or a knee scooter to get around. This

was something that I struggled with. It really affected me mentally and physically. It really made

me think that we really take advantage of how important legs are. We don’t realize how lucky we

are to have them and have them work until something drastic happens like when its broke mine.

This time that I could not walk, I felt helpless. My depression and anxiety really got to an all-

time low because I felt like I couldn’t do anything. However, my parents guided me and
supported me. They help me develop my own growth and helped guide me through was to get

used to this new normal. They encourage me to adjust and adapt to not using both of my legs. If I

didn’t listen to the doctors for those 16 weeks, there was a chance that I would never be able to

use that leg and ankle correctly again. It really took a lot of power and determination for me, and

I was able to conquer those 16 weeks of no weight at all. Once I was able to start using it again, I

realized that I could not just rush it. I needed to slowly progress and get stronger. That is exactly

what I did. I took my time and slowly started developing more and more strength in that leg and

was able to get it fully functional after a year of working on it slowly. It really tested my personal

growth and allowed me to show that I can do things and do things for myself. This experience

really helped me discover my personal growth side and that I can do anything I set my mind too.

It truly once again showed me how things can change so fast and that we have to make

adjustments and changes to those things. Be patient and take your time, it will all work out in the

end, but sometimes things just take time.

Now, once again, I am not one to go all out and brag about my life, but I feel that my

purpose for life is very important. Living life to the fullest is my ultimate goal in life and I feel

that the experiences and events that have happened in my life truly made me realize what my

purpose is and what I want to accomplish when it comes to my life. Even though some of the

experiences I have encountered was something I wanted to do, but I needed to do, in order to

find my true happiness and purpose in my life. It allowed me to find the things that are truly

valuable to me. It has allowed me to continue living the best life I can and will continue to live in

my future.