Pursuing My Success At Age Fifty

Submitted By marriestal
Words: 825
Pages: 4

Pursuing My Success at Age Fifty Most people start pursuing positive goals at a fairly early age in life. Today it’s not so uncommon for young adults to get married and start a family in there early twenties. It isn't even frowned upon for a young teenage female to be pregnant without a husband, now in this day and time. However, back when I was growing up in the 70’s things were much different. If a young girl was pregnant without being married she was most generally shamed. In circumstances like this education was usually pushed back, and motherhood would be the priority. Most goals and future dreams would come to a halt and the responsibilities of parenting were the main focus. It would be a hard decision to raise a baby as a single mother. Well, that young girl was me. I became a single mother at the age of seventeen. Since then, life for me has been full of ups and downs, and challenges. I don’t regret the decision I made as a young woman of keeping my son, but today at age fifty I am finally able to go back and start doing things that I was not able to do because of my decision of being a single mother. I’m overcoming obstacles and disappointments, enjoying challenges and pursuing my dreams. There have been many obstacles and downfalls for me that have kept me from being successful in life. I, being pregnant at an early age in life and getting alienated from my family was an obstacle for sure. It was an embarrassment to my father for me to be pregnant so he gave me the choice to have an abortion, or be disowned from the family. I chose to keep my son. I do not regret this decision; however, I wish I would have had someone to help me make more responsible choices. It wasn't long before I started working as a stripper in the bars. It seemed to be the right thing to do at the time. After all, I was young and pretty, and who knows I might even meet Mr. Right in the club life. Wow, what a false belief that was. I met a lot of guys but they were far from doing anything that was even close to being right. In reality the club life was an enticing deception. All that fast easy money and night life excitement led me to sample with illegal drugs. Before I knew it I was addicted to meth. I became an addict in just a short time. This lifestyle was what lead me to the biggest disappoint ever. In 1998 I was sentenced to twelve years to do behind bars. I had too much fun sinning! The drug and bar life led me to do prison time. I was so hard headed at that time in my life that I did almost every day of the twelve years that I was sentenced to. I got in as much trouble in prison as I got into when I was free. What’s sad is that while I was in prison I didn't have the opportunity to better myself through educational programs or rehabilitation. The only thing I learned while I was in was how