Taking Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk into consideration when thinking about guiding us in our research can be beneficial in many ways. Adichie talks about a “single story” and how this can define how one can look at another. This is very similar to research in that if we know little to nothing about a subject, then we cannot do much else besides make the most basic conclusion. On the other hand, if we know more about a subject, then we know the different types of things going on like in Adichie’s TED talk where they talked about how Nigerians were making the most of what they had.
The story of me goes on for a while, 19 years to be exact (and counting). Throughout school, I didn’t do much besides what I was supposed to do. I went to school, got my homework, did it, and went to school the next day. In my free time, I liked to distract myself with video games which I still do to this day. I wanted to do other things than what I was “supposed” to do, but either I couldn’t do it or I wouldn’t do it. I say wouldn’t do it because I would have random thoughts to just go on a road trip by myself and just drive for hours on end and see where it took me. I made some good friends throughout school, and most if not all of them are still my friends to this day. But some things I kept to myself. I struggled with depression and anxiety for a lot of my life, and only just started getting treatment a year or so ago. It flooded my life and I honestly don’t know how I got my work done. I feel like I was just a mindless husk just going through my life for the past couple of years and not doing anything about it. I finally got some help when going through the mental health training that they made us do at my school. I finally got some help and I didn’t want to but something compelled me to do it. My parents were concerned, as any parents would be, and they got me the help I needed without any hesitation. I didn’t want them to help because I’m the kind of kid that worries about their parent’s money even though I have no access to it. I don’t want them to spend money on me that is unnecessary.
My former math teacher, Mr. Forbes, was a great influence on my life. He was just the funny math teacher that tried to make class fun and we loved him for that. I feel like he should just remember what he experienced in class because if I wanted something known, I would have made it known. He knows everything besides the mental health bit, and I would prefer to keep it that way unless we meet up in the future.