Self esteem, a disposition which represents one's judgments of their own worthiness, can be drawn from many places. In Lori Mendel's written recollection of her life experiences "How My Community College Experience Influenced My Life", Lori finds herself facing the endless struggle of low self esteem and attempting to cope with even the most basic challenges of life. She shows evidence of her inner struggle when she describes the feelings of emptiness from not finishing her education. Her struggle is also easily seen when her husband has emergency heart surgery, and she has to temporarily abstain from her studies, despite the fact that knowledge is what she seems to desire most from her life. Lori also describes the lessons that she learned throughout her college experience. She learned through overcoming her obstacles by perseverance that a degree is more than just a piece of paper. As well as to embrace what scares you most by going back to school, even if you think it is too late. All of these facts show how Lori gets her feeling of self worth through her education, as opposed to from real world experience.
First, Lori finds herself feeling trapped and devoid of purpose in her life, and struggles with her daily tasks. She has ruined her self esteem due to her life choices. She chose to become a housewife, which she didn't want to do in the first place. Lori then goes on to explain how she wished she had just finished her education before being married, instead of after. Later in the story, Lori talks about the struggles that she faced as a result of going back to school. The problems started very simply; her husband had grown accustomed to her constant presence in the home, but that was an easy dealt with. Her trials became very overwhelming though, when her husband needed to have emergency heart surgery, and she was forced to stop her academic pursuits, which she later came to regret. As a whole, the daunting challenges Lori was faced with show just how...