Every now and then there will be unexpected changes in your life and according to how the world works, you’re forced to adjust, move on and try to live your life.
I didn’t know how to cope with the changes in my life and I was only eleven years old. I had a happy life, I was living with both my parents, I had anything I wanted and more. My life was the best thing ever.
Until the year 2011. My parents marriage was over and I noticed when my dad packed his clothes and left, they tried to be as discreet as possible. At first I though he was off to work as he would work at night sometimes, but I remembered that my dad never packed anything whenever he went to work at night, so what the heck is happening here.
The next day my dad never came home and the environment in the house was very different something was wrong but I couldn’t tell what it was. Nobody sat down with us to explain what was going to happen, how it was going to affect us, or the changes we will see. I had questions I was too afraid to ask. I was just lost.
A few days after my dad left, I was outside playing with my friends and I told them that I was hungry and I would come back, I had a lot of friends. I came home and found my other friends looking at my house. There was a huge moving truck, and my friends asked me if I was moving out, “No, not that I know.” I ran inside the house and I saw my mom just sitting at the kitchen table and my dad helping the other people out. Just by seeing my mom sitting down and calm, I knew right there that we were not moving out. But what the heck was happening, why are the sofas getting out of the house.
I remembered my dad leaving a few days prior and I put two and two together. My dad was moving out and he was trying to embarrass us at the same time. It was working because everyone was watching and gossiping and all that. I cried and my friends cheered me up and my dad was trying to cheer me up by smiling at me from a distance.
Life literally changed the day after. I woke up to an empty house everyday and my mom was having financial problems already, my uncle would bring us snacks, you would hear the echoes of an empty house. It was not easy. I started failing at school, I was 11 and in 5th grade. I didn’t tell anybody about my situation and my mom kept telling me that everything would be okay. So now, I had peer pressure, there is no TV, I don’t have a phone or a laptop. Everyone keeps asking me if I watched my daily soapies and what happened. I had to pretend as if I was not interested anymore. This happened until I got to grade 8 in high school. In that time all we did was play soccer in an empty house. I had to adjust to everything as soon as possible. I have trouble adjusting to life’s changes. I feel like I’m being rushed and I end up crashing. After the separation I had to continue with school, my problems never end, I went straight to dealing with academics and bullying in 7th grade.
I went to high school in a totally different town. I had a very serious culture shock. I had to adjust to how they speak, teach, walk and to get to know the town. In every stage of my life, I am forced to adjust to something new, there is always a culture shock, it never stops. I am still learning how to cope with changes in my life. It is never easy.
MuyaMentalHealth 