Significant Events Intro to Psychology 8/25/2012

One significant event that changed my life before I reached adulthood was my grandmother passing away. My grandmothers passing definitely played a life-shaping effect on my life. My grandmother passing was something that was very unexpected and shocking. This was something that no one in the family expected and left a lasting impression on me and my siblings. The reason my grandmothers passing was so significant event was that before her passing I was heading down a bad path in life and associating with negative factors. While in last days before her passing speaking with her and promising to change my life was something that has molded me into the person I am today. Now as I think back on the event, I believe this event to be the most accurate memory that I have from my past. But the more I think about it and try to relive the memory the more I find myself questioning the details of the event. When I first thought about the memory years later I recalled the conversation that we have happening in the evening, when in actuality our conversation took place in the morning during visitation hours. I also believed that I was the only person in the room during our conversation when truth is that my two cousins were also there. Even though these details I believed to be true were false, the actual conversation between my grandmother and I, I remember clear. I actually can recall the conversation word for word with tone of voice included. It seems that the details of the event have faded away due to progression of age. The fact that I can recall the conversation itself with such details and accuracy shows that I placed heavy importance on the actual conversation and not necessarily the event itself. So because the background information was not given any importance these details became miscued as time progressed. This event has had a positive effect on my subjective well-being in that it made me look at my life in a different light and walk a path that I believed to be more positive. I believed that this event forced me to look towards positive factors to give me happiness. Before this event I was not concerned about the happiness that I had in my life or the happiness that I caused in loved ones lives. This conversation with my grandmother forced me to search for a better quality of life and search for positive things that will make me happy. I also changed my life and tried to live a life that I believe that my grandmother would be proud of if she was alive. Some of the changes that I put into place was eating better, not hanging with the same negative people, and not allowing negative factors influence me as much. With these changes I felt a new level and sense of life satisfaction. I felt that my life was something I could be more proud of and did not feel that need to cower away from conversations about how my life was going and what path it was heading down. This event has continued to play a major role in the development of my personality. From this event I have changed my view on the external factors of my life and adjusted them to a more positive view. Instead of being negative towards more things I developed a more positive personality. My personality before this event was always one of just do it worry and about it later. After this event took place I made it a point to think about things before I did it. Before this event I was never concerned about the consequences adopting a selfish attitude only concerning myself with how an action would effect me. After this event I adopted new way of view my actions and concerned myself not only with self-effect but also on how it would affect people around me. This event has had both negative and positive impacts on my overall health. Some of the positive impacts are that I now think more consciously about what I am going to do before I do it. I also am more aware of how important a good and healthy diet is to my life. I am also more willing to help others around me in their time of need. But some of the negative impacts that it has had are that I tend to over-think things now. Instead of trusting myself in certain situations, I try to analyze every possible outcome and even after I select a certain action I still find myself questioning that selection. I also find it hard to say no to others in their time of need. Sometimes saying no can be more helpful to both the people asking as well as myself. This significant event has affected all aspects of my life. From my work life to my personal life, each has been influenced tremendously by my conversation with my grandmother that morning. Even to this minute as I write this paper and reflect on that conversation I find myself reevaluating certain aspects of my life and deciding on ways to change myself to make my grandmother proud.