Arlyn Gomez
Ever since childhood I have always been told that I am wise beyond my years. Growing up I was extrememly shy, primarily around my school peers. I was afraid that my forward way of thinking would rule me out as "uncool" to those I shared a common age with. As a child I didnt have any problem expressing myself around adults. They usually perceived me as a bright young person with a good head on her shoulders that was definitley going somewhere in life, which lead to my obvious prefrence to spend more time around them, particularily the retired generation.
As I grew up, my preferance for adults began to shift to children, seeing that many of them desired attention from a grown up and needed proper guidance, having been around grown ups most of my life gave me a sense of responsibility to befriend those younger than me and help point their interests in a positive direction. Right out of highschool I immediately began employment and seemlessly flowed into promotions and eventually craved a new challenge. I tested the waters in other fields before soon realizing my desire to get back to my element in the arts. I danced all of my life, particularily ballet, and my love of children led me to teaching. I worked for a studio for a while until the opportunity for me to run and operate my own children's dance instruction business presented itself, and that is exactly what I did. At what seemed to me at the time to be the ripe old age of 21 I ventured to begin a partnership in what would be my very first business venture.
Life began to unravel itself as it usually does and I became a wife and mother just 2 years later, suddenly intesifying my need for a career that would provide a stronger income. Naturally I shifted gears once again towards the senior market, in an industry that my own mother had been involved in ever since I can remember, and that's insurance and retirement planning. After becoming licensed I decided to take it to the next level and concentrate on asset and risk management, using insurance and retirement planning as a foundation, and keeping little risk and protection in the spotlight considering I would be representing seniors. And although I may be what some would consider "young", in my 26 years of existence I would say that I have always been significantly different from most my age. I didnt go through a rebellious stage or rack up massive credit card debt at the dawn of my college years, or even gain that usual "freshman fifteen". I've always had my own way of thinking and seeing the world and knew from a young age what I wanted out of my life and have been anxious to get there ever since. My biggest challenge has been figuring out exactly how I would get there. Not being a priveledged child myself I knew that I would always have to work hard for everything that I wanted, however the things I have needed, have been gracefully put in my path by our creator, whatever you want to call it.
We all have a right to be here as well as a responsibility to plant seeds from the gifts we are given, reap the benefits of knowledge this life grants us, and out of repsect tread lightly on our earth and be kind towards our co-inhabitants. What led me here is the urgency to share with the world my experiences and thoughts. Lately when I wrap my head around an idea, it is all I can think about. I obsessively focus on it with my whole mind and body and seek a form of expression. My creative outlet was always dance and music, but my intellectual outlet, is writing. If anything I write on here inspires you, motivates you or even gets you thinking, I have acheived my goal, because as much as the purpose of this venture is to express my thoughts, it is also one of my ways of planting seeds. Giving back ideas and insight that I was lucky enough to encounter as a result from what most would consider a defect (shyness) is part of my responsibility here on earth. I became observant, and soaked up an abundance of information, and lesson as seen through the eyes of others. My tip to everyone and anyone of any age, gender, race or any other classification, is to take your short comings and your flaws and realize them, accept them, and find ways to turn them into something positive. Everything we do, our decisions, our actions, have some kind of positivity to them. Even if they do not turn out the way we planned, even if they result in difficulty or inconvenience or dissapointment, at the very least, we walk away with a lesson, and usually the worse the outcome of our choices the stronger the lesson, USUALLY, but its like the age old saying, "what doesnt kill us can only make us stronger". Think about that everytime you find yourself in the brink of making a decision, and the answer will come to you. But be sure to think, always THINK and you cant go wrong!
