Year Up Changed My Life

Change is an emanating part of life that takes on a life of its own. Change has withstood the test of time. It is an understanding of yourself; a visual manifestation of blindness. It is both conscious and subconscious and are the very keys to success, and failure. It dictates decisions, words, perception and life. Yet, what influences change me? I had feelings of discouragement when my last grandparent passed away. For me the discouragement only continued from the lack family support and the constant judgment. Discouragement that shattered my dreams and the biggest disappointment is the constant backlash from family members; along with all the complaining. My feelings of resentment, betrayal, loneness, fear, being uneducated.

At times, I have feelings of being a loser and facing that were words spoken about me; that I so much despise may be true. A reality of a bad track record, that your employment history will haunt you, that your failed relationships with men will come back; that you have little to no friends be revealed. Even with all this I never changed. I was always the sweetest little girl with a camera in her hand and loved to eat mayonnaise sandwiches. I always wanted things to stay the same and at the same time wanted to have something better. And then it happen it the door opened for change and it came by the name of Year Up. Year Up is a career Information Technology training program.

It is a one year extensive program for urban young adults providing professional skills, work experiences and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Year Up changed my life in so many ways the most significant lesson I learned about change is that it starts with you. Year Up is a great program that is truly invested in the future and career achievement of young adults. The program included guess speakers, career and personality assessment, individual advisors, and many other great aspects. The staff and the vision of the program were also key elements. I learned to be a better more responsible individual. I learned that without change I was going to bear failure.

First, change that I made was to be responsible with myself. I always have this “I don’t care attitude” about things. I didn’t care about going to school or working on education even though I had goals. Finances to me where no big deal and I just let debt accumulate. I didn’t care about having healthy relationships with people. So, I brought all this to Year Up with me. In taking responsible for myself I changed my “I don’t care attitude.” I took action steps to change so that I can reach my goals. Looking back on it on this change was mostly persuaded by having so many influential people around me who overcame extreme obstacles.

After, overcoming these obstacles and still reached success. The second change I learned is to better relationships with people. I learned communicate more effectively. I learned to be more of a people person, less judgmental and have relationship building skills. One thing that was emphasized was to “assume good intent.” A change I made is realizing that people always have your best interest at heart regardless of the delivery of the message. The final change I learned is professionalism. This was the biggest change for me because even though I’m in the workforce I didn’t understand the importance.

I changed this aspect of my life by getting in depth knowledge. I changed how I present myself and expectation of workplace etiquette. I change my perspective of making a good first impression. There have been many changes and I can’t say one has been more significant than the other. The biggest way that Year Up has changed my life is making want to embrace change. I never wanted to embrace change it was something that was always hard for me to do. I was always controlled my fear, insecurities, mis-education, and mis-knowledge of life. Year Up changes that for me.