My life has contained numerous personal hardships, that I have had to overcome. I moved to Minnesota seven years ago, leaving behind an abusive father and taking more emotional baggage than what I put in the trunk of my great uncle 's car which included being a rape victim. Here, in Minnesota I continued to grow in an unhealthy manner.
Under a tremendous amount of stress to help parent my three younger brothers, (including one who is autistic) I helped my now single mother feed and put clothes on their backs. I was only a 6th grader. There was no time for me. I stayed up late trying to do all the homework I could before I fell asleep from exhaustion. I would come home from school at 3:15. My brothers wouldn 't come home till 4:00. That gave me forty-five minutes to clean and have food ready for them. It was a struggle.
During this time we struggled with depression, PTSD, and along with my brother who is autistic/ADHD. It made it hostile and toxic making it a harsh in environment to live in.
I lost motivation to do school work or fight to partake in any after school activities. My grades started to fall severely. I turned to my school’s counselor hoping to get the help I needed. It ended up being fruitless.
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We were introduced to a church called Hosanna. It hosted a youth program called Life hurts and a singles parenting class. There we started to change our lifestyle for the better. I was inspired by a lady from Life Hurts named Jessie. She had a similar backstory to mine. She talked to me about God and taught me about what it meant to not let your past define who you are. She showed me that God was indeed there for me every step of the way. We later joined another program called Reaching up ministries through Christ church. We partook in their Homework help program. My mother taught english classes. I got help on my homework and also volunteered. My brothers also got help with their