Some days I find myself sitting in a room thinking to myself, “can I really be as great as my father has told me I could be?” As I realized, I really can be.

My father is my support system, my push. Since I was at the age of 8, my parents went through a divorce that I never saw coming. My parents seemed nothing but joyful together; we ate out as a family, they still locked their hands when walking side by side. The puzzle pieces just didn’t match up.

“I feel like a sword has stabbed through my heart,” is what my dad told my brother and me. I thought my whole castle was crumbling down as he kept letting words out of his mouth. But he ensured me that everything will be okay. You just have to stay strong and push through. Despite what society will lead you to believe.

Months later, my mom moved out. She just left my father and me behind to take care of ourselves. But my father had no worries; he always had his head held high. We actually lived quite a happy life, just the two of us.

My dad was never the kind of guy to pressure others into doing something, especially if they weren’t ready or if they felt uncomfortable. Therefore, he never interrogated me about schoolwork, forced me into long nights of studying for an upcoming test. The outcome? Low grades, and poor studying habits. However, I developed a very outgoing personality, and I was known for being really friendly. This came out from the weekends that I spend with friends, and meeting new people.

When the economy took a turn in 2008, so did our lives. Unfortunately my father lost his job. Months go by, with many interviews, and late nights searching for jobs that are available, but no success. This is when he broke the news that he needs to start a new life in his home country, Taiwan. God didn’t plan for his life to be fulfilled in the States.

Seesawing between the choice of living in a whole different country with my father or live in the humid, business-invaded city, Houston, with my mother. Knowing that I can’t read and write Chinese, and barely speak the language, I decided to move to Houston with my mom. But deciding where to go wasn’t even the hardest part; saying goodbye to my dad was. I was never good with goodbyes. I especially wasn’t ready to encounter this new life with my mother, whom I grew apart from the past few years of my adolescent life. But my father told me not to worry.

My mom was a very successful woman. She had a good income, good living, and she could take good care of me. The only issue was our relationship. It was like fire against fire. She was the one person that I could never come to an agreement with. As I told my dad my issue, he just encouraged me to focus on schoolwork. Get my mind off of problems with my mom.

Strongly taking his advice, I started getting involved in other activities. I started exercising, and got into really great shape, which helped boost my doomed self-esteem that I suffered with as a child, and helped release the stress that involved my mom that I had floating around in my head. I have taken exercising as a lifestyle, and am now on the school track team.

Not only did my self-esteem take a sky high, but also so did my grades. I started studying and reading more often. In my sophomore year, I was one of the few students that were rewarded Academic Excellence. I now have a more set focus on how my education should end up to, and how to achieve these goals.

Not everyone has an idol or muse that they can look up to. Especially someone who can affect his or her lives as much as my father has affected mine. I am seriously blessed to have such an amazing father that looks over me so well. He’s given me the opportunity and the advice of both developing great friendships and setting standards and goals for myself, which have definitely gotten me far.