My Supports

Factors within my daily environment that are supportive to me:

Emotional support from loved ones

• My close friends and family have made such a huge impact in my life. I can go to them when I'm happy and want to share with them exciting or happy news. I can count on them when I am feeling sad or upset about something that happened at work or in my personal life. I can even just vent to them when I am having a bad day. They help keep me sane and give me advice when needed. They also help snap me back into a positive frame of mind when I'm not looking at the positive side of things. 
• My co-workers are also some of my best friends for this very reason. Like I have stated before in previous posts, I try to surround myself with positive, happy people so that I can remain that way myself. And I appreciate having people in my life that can help me keep that goal and stay focused on it, and hold me accountable as well.
• My faith: I can't even think of my life without thinking about my faith in God. I was brought up in a church that was welcoming to all and supportive of everyone in every walk of life. I have learned to pray and take time each day to talk to God and tell him my struggles. This is my greatest support!

Practical support

• Grocery lists: help me find things quickly at the store so I'm not wasting time trying to remember things I need. Also helps me so I don't forget anything and have to go back later. Without my grocery list, I will end up spending more time than needed at the store, buying things I don't need or forgetting something.  
• Monetary support I am able to buy my groceries, pay my bills, and enjoy some fun every now and then when a budget allows me to do so. If I didn't have this support, I would be living on the street. 
• Help around the house: Living alone has it's benefits (no arguments, no cleaning up other people's messes, doing whatever I want) but it's not always as easy as it sounds. There are some days I come home exhausted OR days when I'm sick and feel miserable. But the sink is full of dishes, I have no clothes to wear, the trash needs taken out, the house needs cleaned, the yard needs mowed, the flower beds need maintained, etc. These day to day tasks can become a huge burden when your health is down. A little over a year ago, I had a ruptured disc in my spine and was in extreme pain anytime I was not laying down flat on my back. So doing anything as little as my laundry to something like mowing the lawn was extremely painful. It was a huge struggle at that time in my life to live alone. But now that I have had surgery and am healed- I feel stronger than ever because I was able to do that all myself. I have a good friend who is a single mom and I tell her every day I don't know how she does it. She is an amazing mother to her 4 year old and I have respect for parents in general- but man... thinking about the ones who do it all on their own- I am simply amazed! (quick side note: I hope this doesn't sound like I was whining about being single... I love my life- it just makes it hard when I could use the help and there is none around) After living alone for 3 and half years, I've been much more helpful to my parents when I go home to visit b/c I now understand how hard it can be to maintain a happy home!
• My cell phone: I use to to keep in touch with my family and friends, as an alarm clock, a food tracker when I'm motivated to watch what I eat, check the weather, take pictures, listen to music, and so much more. Ever since I got my first iphone (just a few months ago- haha) I can't imagine my life without it now! On my old flip phone I could only use it as an alarm clock. It didn't take good pictures and it couldn't hold any music. 
• My laptop (with internet): I use it to do my lesson plans for work, create centers and classroom management tools to print off, online shopping, check my email, facebook, and of course, complete my masters program! I would be bored to tears and feel disconnected from the world if I didnt' have internet/my laptop! =) I can also use it to educate myself when it come to feeling ill, finding a good recipe or creating something fun through pinterest!
• My glasses: I am blind as a bad without them! Contacts make my eyes dry out, red, and hurt! So i wear glasses most of the time. They help me drive, read, recognize people's faces and see things farther than 2 feet from my face! I wouldn't be able to do much without them. 
• My car: It gets me to and from work, takes me to visit my family who lives over an hour away, to the grocery store, to visit with friends near and far. If I didn't have my car- I would have to take the bus/walk/ride a bike and that would be so inconvenient. I love being able to have the freedom and leave when I need to. Otherwise I'd be living for bus schedules and taking into consideration of how much longer it would be to ride a bike, rather than drive. (But I'd be in GREAT shape!)

Physical support 

• This may or may not be a good example- but thinking about my rupture disc- I will never, ever take for granted my health and being able to walk without pain- that was such a painful experience that I hope to NEVER re-live again. I have been working hard to lift with my knees if necessary and to never bend over like I used to. My friends and family will NOT let me lift anything heavy anymore because they saw how much pain that it had caused me in the past. So to have assistance in completely a physical task such as lifting, is crucial in my life. Otherwise, rupturing another disc in my spine is highly possible. (I fear it every day!)

 Supports I would need if I was ESL/ELL:

• We have an ESL/ELL program in the school I work at and it amazed me every day at what these students can accomplish. I try to imagine if I were to be fully immersed in a school that spoke a completely different language from my own and it would be terrifying to me. I would need much support, as do the children in the ESL/ELL program.

Emotional support

• I would need friends who spoke my home language as well as my family support. If I were to live in a country that I didn't not speak their native language- I would feel homesick. So to have my family would give me a sense of home. Friends also contribute to the feeling of home. When I am able to speak in my home language freely- I am comfortable and feel at peace. If I am forced to speak in another language that I am not familiar in- I become anxious and intimidated.

Practical support

• ELL/ESL services would also be helpful. To have someone to help teach me the new language would be beneficial to me because if I truly didn't understand something in that language- the teacher could assist me in understanding. If I didn't have these services, I feel I could fall behind in whatever I was trying to learn because I wouldn't have the support to help me learn the new native language.

Physical support

• I can't really think of anything physically I would need in this case. Unless maybe I was learning how to do something I would need that person to physically model it for me if they didn't not speak my language.