When I was little, I formed a bond with Flopper, my pet rabbit whose ears were supposed to flop as a lop, but they never did. He was my special friend when I was little until we had to give him away. He was making messes and chewing valuable things in the house when I’d forget to put him back in his cage. Besides our goldfish graveyard in the backyard, saying bye to Flopper was my first time experiencing a significant loss in life.
Health, knowledge, and education were important in our family. I loved school, was interested in learning, and after being tested, was placed in the gifted program. It was super exciting to start to be challenged in programs like Olympics of the mind, math competitions, and academic decathlons.
At age 18, I left home to go to UT Austin valuing most, the development of my mind and intellect.
It took moving away from home and everyone I knew, as well as the most significant loss in my life to reveal the value of beginning to learn to live from the heart rather than the head.