Influence But Not Admire

Seeing the words "admire" and "influence" in the same question, followed by which person acquires these traits, I can not think of one person who fits both. However, I can think one person who has made a great influence and impact on my life. I do not admire her for the simple fact she does not obtain those qualities to do such. Despite all the misconception she has done, I can still find a positive in each one. This woman is my mother.

For most students, their mom is a person they can confide in. I am not one of those students. There are many times my mom has made broken promises to me as a child about always being there. Instead of dwelling on this, I turned it into a positive characteristic of mine. I have taught myself not to believe everything I hear, even from people who are close to me. Many people will tell you things just because it sounds good at the time, but when it comes down to it, they are flaky. I have built up this barrier of believing things that sound suspicious. As a child you want to believe what your parents told you, after a short while I stop believing that and began tuning out most of what she had to say. It may sound rude, but its the truth. I turned her negative attribute into a positive virtue for myself.

I consider myself an independent person. I did not obtain this quality on my own. I give that congradulations speech to my mom. She has taught me, indirectly, not to count on people and that I can do things on my own. I can remember when my mom would tell me I could always count on her and to call her whenever I needed something, but based on her past actions I knew it was no true. So by her doing this, not being there for me, I have realized that I cannot be carried on the road to success, it is going to take an exceedingly amount of effort, a little sweat, and my feet are going to ache. Nevertheless, in the end it is all worth it. i learned to do things on my own and without the help from others unless it was really needed. When I make to college there will not be anybody there to bring me tomato soup when I am sick, call me to make sure I am awake for class, or even remind me about doctor's appointments, these are things I have to do and will do on my own. I know how to stand on my own two feet simply because as a child I did not stand on hers.

Although I do not want to seem like I am throwing my mom under the bus because she has made a positive impact on my life, despite the fact it was in a negative way. Her dream for me is to be better than she was and do the best to my abilities to reach my goals. My mom always wanted the best for me, whether it was wanting me to go to the best schools or simply being around the right people. She knows that she has made many mistakes in the past when it comes to parenting, but she does not love me any less and just wants to see me go far in life. I respect her on that aspect, but in the same instant I cannot forget my past, but turn it into something more constructive for my future.

Thus in conclusion my mother has had a great impact on my life. She is far from perfect, but her imperfects have helped me grow into the genuine and confident person I am today. All her broken promises have helped me realize I can not believe everything hear and that actions speak louder than words. By her not being there when I needed her, or thought I did, I learned to be independent and be able to do things by myself, for myself. Even though her negative qualities outweigh her useful ones, she still has my best interest at heart. I consider my mother being the reason for all the characteristics I obtain in myself. Everything she is not made me everything I am.