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Written by Julie Larson

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I was a bit on edge already, and my class just started! I just couldn’t handle being exposed to the poison. I had a couple of weeks to prepare myself for what was to come and thought I was ready for anything that would be thrown at me. I got sideswiped by a poison that had nothing to do with chemistry, and it had the potential to knock me off my feet. I couldn’t get away from it, and the longer I was exposed, the more damage it was doing to me. I knew I had to do something.

Negativity

My summer college class started last week, and I saw firsthand the impact the poison of negativity can have on a group of people. There are about 25 of us in the class, and there was one person who continually spewed forth negativity about everything. With her untamable tongue, she interrupted the professor with rude commentary, and on our lunch break, she complained about the college’s academic advisors, our younger classmates, the lab activities, the long school day, the short lunch break, her parents, her job, the weather, and on and on.

She had a chip on her shoulder about everything. The world was conspiring against her, apparently. She talked like a victim that had no control of anything in her life, and she oozed negativity with every breath. It didn’t take long to see that no one wanted to be around her. We were all being infected.

Poison, in any form, is insidious. Sometimes it tastes sweet and goes down fine, only to cause problems later. Other times, the poison has a bitter taste, and even a small exposure causes immediate damage. This was the latter, and everyone knew it.

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Written by Julie Larson

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I’m sitting here on a beautiful spring day making flash cards to study for my final math exam, and my eyes are welling up as I think about how the Lord has helped me, and how far He has brought me. In just a few days, I will wrap up my first year of college—25 years after finishing high school. It’s a huge milestone for me. I didn’t think I’d even be alive to graduate high school, let alone attend college. But, here I am.

When I was in junior and senior high school, I struggled with life, and I made a lot of bad decisions. I was lost and hurting. When things got hard and the going got tough—at home, school, or in relationships, my default response was to high-tail it out of there. I skipped school, and I ran away from home. Drugs and drinking became my escape. Every time there was a problem, my coping skills involved running away, masking the pain, violence, and ‘looking for love in all the wrong places.’ At that time, I was so depressed, I didn’t care if I lived or died.

Then, my now husband, Jon, came into my life, and I started to get glimpses of what a better life could be like. I started to have hope for my future. I started putting in the effort, but I still had undeveloped skills in so many areas. Jon supported and encouraged me to press forward and not give up. 

I applied myself, and with Jon’s help, I became the first person in my family to graduate from high school. 

This was a massive accomplishment for me. It chokes me up sometimes when I think about how special it was to wear a cap and gown, walk with my class, and get handed my diploma on graduation day.

Then, I became a mom right out of high school and worked as a nursing assistant in a nursing home for a couple years. It was there that I realized how much I loved spending time with the elderly and taking care of them. I couldn’t get enough of hearing their stories. Helping them with their most basic needs and helping them feel loved and valued felt like an important role, especially seeing how many people didn’t have any friends or family visiting them.

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