-
The First Two Years: Psychosocial Development
As a baby and toddler, I had a very calm temperament. I rarely cried or screamed, fought with my older sister, or put up a fuss for my parents. They both say I was a relatively easy baby. -
The First Two Years: Cognitive Development
As a child, I became habituated toward a blanket which I named Pink. I brought my Pink everywhere with me and of course couldn't fall asleep without it. -
The First Two Years: Biosocial Development
I remember learning how to walk outside in the grass; I thought the grass felt so strange on my skin as I was crawling. -
The Play Years: Biosocial Development
I displayed a great deal of artistic expression as a child. I loved to dance, color, draw, paint, and do all sorts of other crafts. I had yet developed a sense of self criticism which led me to think I was a very skilled artist. -
The Play Years: Psychosocial Development
My parents raised me in an Authoritarian style. My parents never listened to my sister or me and never allowed us to have a say in anything. I remember being so angry and frustrated with my parents for not listening to us. -
The Play Years: Cognitive Development
One time when I was hanging out with my friends, instead of saying ‘I broke the pencil’ I said ‘I broked the pencil’. My friends laughed at me and called me stupid; I was so embarrassed. -
The School Years: Biosocial Development
As a school aged girl, I was very involved in a dance program. I enjoyed being healthy and physically fit. As well as staying in shape, I enjoyed having to work with teammates. -
The School Years: Psychosocial Development
I used to compare myself to my friends like it was my job. As a young girl I had very low self-esteem and compared myself to others in every aspect imaginable. -
The School Years: Cognitive Development
When I was in fourth grade, my school put on the play Charlotte’s Web and my character was the Goose. I had to use meta-cognition to figure out how to act like my character. -
Adolescence: Biosocial Development
As an adolescent, I was extremely affected by stress! Not only did school stress me out, but I also stressed about my body image. -
Adolescence: Cognitive Development
When I was in middle school, first impressions seemed to be the most important thing to me as I met many new classmates. I absolutely had to look perfect all the time; my image was my number one priority. -
Adolescence: Psychosocial Development
I found my identity and myself through finding my religious identity as an adolescent. My older sister was active in our youth group so I joined in the fun as well. I absolutely loved the program and found my best friends and first long term boyfriend at my church. Throughout my years, I often prayed, read scripture, and attended church events and services. -
Emerging Adulthood: Cognitive Development
As a freshman in college, I was affected by the stereotype threat. In high school, I was a cheerleader and a very happy and positive person. Although I ended my cheerleading career, I continued to stay positive and bubbly as I entered college. I feared my cheerleader stereotype would follow me to a new school, and it certainly did at first. However, as time went on and my friends got to know me, they thankfully realized that I am nothing like the cheerleader type they assumed I was. -
Emerging Adulthood: Biosocial Development
Throughout adolescence I struggled with forming healthy eating and exercising habits but in my early adulthood, I finally won that battle. I made exercising an important part of my everyday routine. The first thing I would do everyday upon waking up is exercise. I also decided to change my eating habits to make my lifestyle even healthier. By changing in these ways, not only did I get sick less often, but I had more energy and generally felt better. -
Emerging Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
My best friend in high school stood by my side as we went through college, and even still in emerging adulthood. Kelsey, my best friend, and I tell each other absolutely everything; I know she is always willing to listen to whatever I have to say. She is someone I am thankful to know I will have with me for the rest of my life. -
Adulthood: Biosocial Development
I had always dreamed of a fairy tale wedding, and my dream had finally come true. I met, dated, and married the love of my life and my best friend, Graham. After two years of playing house with my new hubby, we decided to have children. We were lucky enough to have a boy and a girl, Michael and Lindsey. One day years later, I looked in the mirror and for the first time, I noticed my wrinkles in their entirety. I simply looked haggard and old and felt the same way. At that date and time, -
Adulthood: Cognitive Development
In my later years, I would say that I have become a human relations expert. I work with people every day as a nurse, wife, mother, sister, daughter, and friend. I have had many different relationships with people and through them have developed a greater understanding for individual emotional needs. -
Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
Just as I had hoped, Kelsey and I still remain best friends. AS we grew, life got harder and larger problems revealed themselves. Through marriages and having children, through major illnesses and loss of loved ones, Kelsey continued to love me as more than a friend, but as a sister. We were there for each other through the easy times, and helped each other out through the stressful times. I am glad to call Kelsey my best friend. -
Late Adulthood: Biosocial Development
As I grew older, my senses seemed to diminish. My eye sight got significantly worse, even so much that my children suggested that I lose my right to carry a drivers license. After some arguing, I began to understand their perspective and gave it up willingly. -
Late Adulthood: Cognitive Development
Not only did my senses diminish with age, but my memory and brain functioning did as well. I developed Alzheimer’s disease and eventually dementia. At times I insisted on seeing my children, and when the people who were around me told me that they were in fact my children, I did not remember or recognize them. -
Late Adulthood: Psychosocial Development
Before I developed dementia, my children and grandchildren would often visit me at my home. They would come over to keep me company, take me out to eat, cook for me and just visit. They told me that it was important that I stayed active, especially as I aged. As I developed dementia, however, it became more difficult for me to leave my home and my activity level dramatically dropped. -
Death
As I was aging and approaching death, I thought back to all my loved ones whom ive lost in the past. One person in particular came to mind, my good friend, Lindsey. When she was only fifteen years young and a sophomore in high school, she passed away from Leukemia. Lindsey battled cancer for seven long years. It had been so long since I had seen my beautiful friend, and I was anxious to meet her again. With much help from my family members, my will was looked over one last time just to make -
Death: Continued
sure everything was in order. I knew death must be drawing near, for each day was a bit more difficult than the previous. I wasn’t afraid; however, instead I was excited to begin my new life in Heaven. It was a Tuesday morning at 3:15 when I got this weird feeling that I was looking over my own body. I saw myself lying in my bed, looking over my body when I began drifting away; an immeasurable weight was then lifted off of my shoulders as if I had been freed of all earthly worries.