Coping with Change

Change is a difficult thing. It can cause many anxieties and stresses in an individual’s life. This past year has been very difficult on me. I have had to deal with a lot of change in my life this past year. The biggest change I encountered was graduating high school and moving away for college. College has opened up many new doors in my life. Growing up, I always had my family to rely on. I could always count on my family to love me when other people might not have shown the same emotion. I could come home and know that I would not need to worry about feeding myself or having to take care of cleaning the house. This all changed when got to college. I was suddenly thrown into an atmosphere where I was the only person I could count on. I was suddenly responsible for cleaning up the kitchen and bathrooms. I had to do my own laundry for the first time and there was nobody to remind me to sit down and complete my homework. All of these instances were a big change for me, but I found ways to cope with these changes. At first, these changes were difficult to deal with because I now could only rely on myself. No one else was going to cuddle me when I need emotional support, I was on my own and to far away from home to receive the same support I once had. When dealing with change, it is important that an individual finds strengths in themselves and can find a daily routine to ease into things. I was able to do this and, slowly, the transition from high school to college much easier to deal with.

http://bestlife.typepad.com/actionsteps/2006/06/top_5_ways_to_c.html

Community Service

There are many evils in the world. Homicide, genocide, poverty, homelessness and much more, but today I want to discuss an evil that can be found anywhere in the world: human trafficking. Popularized by television shows, most people may think that human trafficking may only happen on the east coast of the United States, or maybe not even in the United States, but the truth is, human trafficking can be found everywhere; even in your hometown. Recently, I had been shocked to find out that this was happening right down the street from my house. I was informed by my local news station in Olathe, KS that a chain of massage parlors had been busted because they found that illegal immigrants had been held captive and forced to engage in sexual encounters for their captures’ incomes. Individuals forced into this kind of prostitution often will find themselves stuck and helpless. When someone has blackmail or threats such as your illegal status in the United States, it is not easy to try and defy a capture. For these reasons, it is important that something is done to help these people.

The United States government does have a Department of Human Health Services that will help these victims if they are immigrants to gain benefits and services that a refugee might be allowed. This is very helpful, but not the only thing this government has set up for these individuals. They also will provide counseling and therapy to try and help these victims unwind and try to overcome the trauma that they were exposed to. The government has many programs to help human trafficking victims, but sometimes these individuals need the help of you and me. One of the simplest things that we can do to help is be aware of this problem. If we can recognize signs of an individual that might be stuck in this slavery, we could contact the Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline. This could save many lives from trauma and even death. Along with this hotline, there are many non-profit charities that provide services for these individuals. If we cannot personally help one single individual, we could help on a higher level. By simply making a donation to one of these organizations, your small donation would go towards a tremendous cause. Many world issues cannot be solved by one individual alone, but if people would take small gestures such as a simple phone call or a tiny donation many lives could be helped and saved.

http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/89/357/15448_trafficking.html
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/fact_sex.html

Introduce Myself

Before you begin reading my later blog posts, I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. I am a stuent athlete at Butler Community College, my name is Kiersten. I graduated from Olathe South High School in Kansas and came to Butler Community College on a volleyball scholarship. I grew up with two brothers (to whom I accredit my toughness in sports) and a dog named Andrew. My dream was to become a pediatric nurse when I got out of college, but that has since changed. For now my major is undecided and I plan to explore many careers and take many intresting classes before I do decide what I wish to do with my life. My freshman year is going to intresting and I am prepared for whatever is to come next.