A Turning Point In Life

A Turning Point In Life

Although I now have a career and a better life, looking back at my childhood events makes me realize how much my life has changed.  Each individual has massive potential to make a remarkable turning point in his/her life (Ward 34). It always depends on the opportunity that crops up and how one exploits it (Ward 34). My life reached a turning point when I applied for an essay writing competition while in high school.

I was born in a family where the economic situation was not very stable. The family was made up of my mother and father, as a well as my two siblings. My father was an alcoholic and barely supported the young family since he was unemployed. As a result, achieving formal education alongside other basic needs posed an incredible challenge for me and my siblings. However, my mother used to do some manual work in order to educate my siblings and myself through high school. I remember the presence of my father would send chills down our little bodies as everyone feared him. On the other hand, it was ironical of him to keep telling me the benefits of reading and that he would be happy if I finished my education up to the university level. As the firstborn in the family, an enormous part of household chores fell on my shoulders alongside other responsibilities at home. My siblings were literary under my care. Although most of my time I enjoyed reading books whenever I got the opportunity, I could not see myself proceeding with the university education due to poverty in the family. The possibility of attaining this dream sank even more after my parents separated while I was still a young girl, after which my mother, two siblings and I had to relocate to another state and settled with our relatives. Initially, dropping out of school was inevitable and my mother forced me to do some volunteer works. Depression almost killed my mother but with time life had to move on.

While in high school, I knew my dreams of joining the university were crushed due to lack of fees and kept hoping that one day I would at least get a sponsor or even be lucky enough to be accepted for a scholarship. My biggest dream was to join the university and continue with my education and finally, settle down with a good career.

One day while in the school library, I bumped into an advertisement about an essay writing competition which had promised an attractive reward in addition to a University scholarship to the participants.  Immediately I saw this advertisement, my heart leapt with joy and knew that my life was due to change forever if I participated.  I believed in myself as a good writer and above all writing was my hobby. As a natural story teller, I often enjoyed the responses I received after narrating stories to some of my friends and family. Therefore, after briefly reading the directions on how to go about the competition I felt very comfortable and prayed that the prize and scholarship will be awarded to me ultimately. The editors required the entrants of the competition to write about moving personal experiences that had changed one’s life forever. I immediately rushed home and started planning on how to structure the story. Telling the story came naturally for me, and every word was flowing easily. I could not help feeling as if I.............