Liz’s World

Here’s the timed GED essay I wrote, using this practice question:

What is one important goal you would like to achieve in the next few years?

In your essay, identify that one goal and explain how you plan to achieve it. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Now here’s my essay:

Much of my life has been about caring for other people. I cared for my husband and my children. Now, I am on my own. I need to care for myself and think about who I am. The GED is my first step toward my goal: finding something meaningful to do with my life.

This goal is not as clear-cut as goals like becoming a nurse or a pharmacist. However, defining what the goal means is part of the goal. The first step I will take is to try to understand what it most meaningful to me. Do I want to work toward a greater social good? Should I concentrate on bringing small pleasures to people?

Once I understand my priorities, I need to look for an activity that will work with my priorities. This may mean finding a new career, or it may mean finding volunteer work to fit into my life. Either way, the skills I’ve learned while studying for my GED will help me write a resume, apply for positions, and talk with people.

I look forward to using my growing skills in something that I find fulfilling. I am happy to have spent my life caring for my family, and I am equally happy to now have time to pursue new interests. Defining those interests is a journey that is just beginning.

Let me know what you think!

Hi, there! My name is Elizabeth Strong, and I worked in a grocery store most of my life. But that’s not what my life is all about. I mean, my life is a whole world: family, friends, home. Mostly family. I fell in love too young, I guess. I was only 16. Back then, it seemed like the whole point of life was to fall in love and get married and have a family. So, I dropped out of school, got married, and had two kids, little boys. I liked being a mom, but I was just too young to go and have a family and a husband. Things didn’t turn out how I thought. I’m divorced now, and my kids are grown. There doesn’t seem to be much to fill up my life anymore…

I started thinking about how I never finished school, and my boss at work mentioned that they might want to promote me, if I had a high school diploma. They mentioned the GED, and I started looking into it. I thought it would be good to be doing something with my life, you know?

That’s when I found The GED Academy. When I first took the GED practice test–guess what? I actually passed the social studies and science sections. Well, I didn’t think too much about that at the time. I thought–the most important stuff is math and reading and writing, and I failed at all of them. I felt real horrible. I’ve learned, though, that it’s a mistake to think that way. Instead, I should have realized that I was almost halfway to passing my GED. I could already pass two sections! Taking classes at The GED Academy helped me realize that I could do more than I thought.

So, I’m working on my reading, writing, and math. And I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing with my life. I’ll be talking about all that in this blog–another new thing for me! So, I hope you come back and read more.

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