by Jeffery Escano // Staff Writer
Suicide. Health disorders. Homelessness. Not everyone has to deal with these problems, but they are common in our world. It takes strong willed people to be able to overcome these obstacles. Two people who had to rise up and conquer these issues are Carson High School seniors Israel Johnson and Tatiana Jackson. The former had to fight against thoughts of suicide while the latter had to fight against an autoimmune disorder and being homeless for some time.
Israel says that some of the things that she had to deal with in her fight with suicidal thoughts were insecurities, issues with family members, and self harm. To overcome this she started writing in her journal and started doing poetry. Aside from that, she also gave herself daily affirmations and expressed how she was feeling with her mom.
“I had daily affirmations that I told myself each morning that reassured me of my worth and I started expressing how I felt with my mom.” Israel said.
Tatiana’s challenges having to deal with an autoimmune disorder, Behcet’s to be specific, were having to see 12 different specialists deal with blood test and skin biopsies before it being 2 months into the disorder before she was finally diagnosed with it. Difficulties in eating, walking, going to school, with the pain being intolerable and not even knowing the cause of the disorder to begin with. As far as being homeless, she had to stay in either motels or any of her friends’ houses and had to keep her clothes in her family’s car for 3 and a half months.
“My biggest challenge was trying to act like everything was okay when it wasn’t….First, I just got closer to God because I wondered why everything was happening to me. Then I got more involved in clubs, work, etc. so I wouldn’t worry about what’s happening at home,” said Tatiana describing what her challenge was being homeless and how she got over it.
“[…]As for the disease I’d say just be patient because even though things seem like they won’t get better they will. I kept it to myself at first because I didn’t want to jeopardize other people’s happiness just because of my health,” continued Tatiana regarding her illness.
These two serve as examples that things may be rough, but not impossible to get over.
Tatiana’s success can be seen in the fact that she is college bound, outgoing, and positive. Israel is fulfilling her dream by attending an HBCU (Historically Black College/University) and pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. If they can do it, all of us can even though it’s not easy.
Also, for those of you reading this article who are going through problems know that things will get better in time.