Believing That You Can Believing That You Can
Finding Me
A turning point in my life occurred while I was
incarcerated at Gadsen Correctional Facility. Before
entering prison, I was a very bad drug user. I was a fighter. I
was very disrespectful. I did not care who I hurt; the only
thing I cared about was getting high and doing whatever it
took to keep my high. Dec.21, 2009 changed my life
forever. I was sentenced to do 40 months in prison. I cried
out to God. I prayed to God. I told him that I could not bear
doing prison time. I also told God that he once stated that he
would put no more on me than I could bear. All along God
knew that I could bear it. I just had to find the strength that
God gave me at birth. While I was incarcerated, I made a
choice to have a better life and future with my fiancé. While
being incarcerated I entered a drug program that lasted from
9 to 12 months. I did 18 months willingly. I attended
AA/NA/CA/CR, which are all meetings that helped me in
my process of recovery to become who I am today.
After being let out of prison, I learned to love myself; I
learned to just be myself. I put God first in everything I do.
I now attend my church, which is Church of Christ on
Susan Street. I’m enrolled at Santa Rosa County District
Schools. I’m 33 years old and planning on getting married
this summer. I’ve been clean for four years now, and I’ve
been out of prison for one year. Upon getting my GED
diploma I’m thinking of going into culinary arts because I
love cooking and eating. I’ve now reached this new point in
my life, which is freedom from all things that had my life at
a standstill. I am proud of myself, even if no one else is,
because I have done what I thought I couldn’t do, which is
finding the real me. I finally found Me, Myself, and I.
Siobhan Trotter is a student at Santa Rosa Adult School in Milton,
Florida. Her teacher is Rhonda Currier.
A Turning Point in My Life
When we are young, we have the bad habit of
criticizing our parents because they often complain about
how difficult life is. In our minds, life is very easy and we
do not know why they always complain about it. When I