Opening Remarks
I use to be so embarrassed of my life and the adversities I face on a daily basis. I was the type to always care about what someone think of me. But now I realize that my story can help someone that may be facing similar circumstances. I am and was a teenage mother, I have been married and divorced, I am the mother of a disabled child. So many times I feel like a science project where I am facing something that is meant to break me, but I find a way to overcome. I've always enjoyed writing and use to even write in a diary as a child so I thought why not just start a blog. I have never been heavy on sharing my life on social media, but I felt I want to start capturing more memories and build a platform, being the entrepreneur I am; plus I just have so many ideas that I would love to explore.
Hello everyone welcome to my Blog, The Balance of it All, my name is ShaCora also known as Cora. I am a thirty one years old mother of three children, a full time caregiver, a full time college student, and part time employee/ entrepreneur; and I would like to share my story with you. This platform is intended to spread awareness, share my experiences and to network with others. I am not a doctor or expertise in any of these matters and I am just stating what I have been through in life.
Let’s start from the beginning, where life started to life for me. At the age of 14 years old an exact month away from my 15th birthday, I gave birth to my first child. Now this was a whole situation, me hiding my pregnancy from everyone up until I was 8 months pregnant. I definitely had to figure out life fast, I knew I was only a freshman in high school and had no way to take care of a baby; but I would definitely not have a way if I dropped out of school. So me being as head strong as I am made sure I got a job, my first as a shampoo girl since I was under age and Starbucks being my first official job as soon as I turned 16. I decided then, to go to an alternative school where I can catch up and even get ahead by taking online courses to get my high school diploma. In my last year of high school realizing I wanted to experience prom and a traditional graduation I transfer to my local high school to complete my senior year. Despite having a child essentially all through high school I graduated with honors and with my entry class! That’s when I knew I can do anything I put my mind to.
So fast forward to after graduation, I initially felt I wanted to go to school for hair being that it was my first passion. I quickly learned that it was just a hobby for me and something that I wouldn’t be able to do as a career. So I then transfer to my local university and started to work on my degree for nursing, not that I wanted to be a nurse wasn’t really sure what I really wanted to do and feeling like I could just follow in my mom’s footsteps. But after my first year of college I knew that wasn’t really what I wanted to do either and all at the same time still very confused about what it was I actually wanted to do. So I went ahead and withdrew from school and worked full time to support me and my son only at the time. Still at Starbucks my first job, I took the leap of faith and applied for a position at the hospital making me a state employee. Needless to say I got the position and was working in a leadership role at the age of 18. Not understanding how much of a blessing it was, I did not cherish the opportunity, of course.
Some time later I got pregnant with my second child, got married for the security of a family at the age of 20. After taking some time with my then newborn baby, I went back into the workforce moving up quickly in the corporate world. At the age of 21 I was managing a nationwide convenient store. Which taught me a lot in business and made me realize that owning businesses is my ultimate goal. It also made me realize what I wanted to go to school and get a degree in. Knowing that math has always been a strong suit for me, I realize that accounting would be an amazing degree and profitable career. However I got stuck in the grind of working and did that for a while, actually up until I could no longer.
At the age of 27 I became pregnant with my third and last child. At that time life completely changed for me going into preterm labor and having my baby after only 24 weeks of pregnancy. I then switched my focus to being a full time caregiver of my baby who suffered many complications due to her early delivery. With me being unable to work as much as I was use to, I realized that it was the perfect opportunity to focus on my education again. A year after learning to balance my new life, I re-enrolled to school and in two years of hard work and consistency I completed my Associates degree and became licensed as a real estate agent. Now I am working on my bachelors and intend on going all the way to my masters. Although I am still unable to work full time, I am completing goals for when I am able to do so.
Stay tuned for my progress and updates!
This blog will be discussing Motherhood, Caregiving, Education, Career, Healthy lifestyle, Finances.