The Literacy of Life

 It's quite interesting to think about how much literacy impacts our day-to-day lives. Being unable to understand words and read them is a skill that would hamper our ability to do normal tasks greatly. 

1. The Beginning of my literacy journey

I have to say that this will be one of my more boring sections as I can hardly remember the time I first became literate. My memory is quite poor, so I'd have to assume that I became literate through the help of children's television and my general curiosity when outdoors. My family would always bring me wherever they would have to run chores, so I would gain interest and ask what words mean and how to pronounce them. So television and my parents helped feed my curiosity of words at a young age. My family tried their best to make me the best at literacy, attempting to teach me English and Spanish words. They clearly favored me learning Spanish words due to our Hispanic heritage, but I came out a stronger English speaker and reader than a Spanish one.

2. The Road of Literacy Evolution

My journey continues as I got older. I entered my preschool and developed how to actually write and read words. They were beginner, I wasn't anything special, but it was fun to learn words. The only thing that made the process annoying when I was younger was the fact that I was pretty overconfident, so whenever I would think I knew how to spell a word, I'd get just one letter wrong and it would throw everything out of control. My literacy took a HUGE dip in fifth grade randomly, as my first assignment I handed in had more spelling mistakes than I am willing to admit. It would've made me look as if I had only just started writing for the first time. The embarrassment did inspire me to improve my ability to write and know words to better communicate my ideas. I was done using simple vocabulary and really wanted to get into writing. I tried my best in each of my English classes and practiced creative writing in my free time. 

3. Literacy in My Life Today

Today, my journey continues to prove how important literacy is in my life. Without the ability to read and write, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I gain so much from writing and being able to read what others say (mainly through online discussion boards), I cannot even imagine what I would be without literacy. I feel like I would be no different to a caveman at times, haha. But I use it so often today as my job requires me to always know what is on sale, and with how often customers ask me to read them what we have on the sales list, being unable to read would really hamper my ability to do my job. I'm grateful for literacy and can't see myself ever being able to live without it. I hope my eyesight lasts as long as possible!