Ghetto Woman

Annie Ruth wrote a poem called Ghetto Woman. Part of the poem says

“Yes, I’m a ghetto woman and my family made mistakes

my grandma was a drunkard and my cousins the police have chased.

Yes I’m going to college and I’ll always keep my goals

You just watch carefully and see my story told.”

To me this poem talks about self-doubt. I looked up the definition of self-doubt, at freedictionary.com. Both of our definitions were similar. The dictionary defined self-doubt as a lack of faith or confidence in oneself. I defined self-doubt as being unsure about your outcome. Feeling fearful that you won’t accomplish your goals. No matter what your age, everyone experiences self-doubt throughout life.

I can remember experiencing self-doubt at an early age. One example was my first time going to the public pool with my friends without an adult, during my middle school years. My mom being a mom had a ton of questions for me to answer before she decided I could go. She gave me enough change to get in and told me to be safe. I met up with my friends and we walked to the pool. The closer I got to the pool the more nervous I felt. I didn’t really know what to do or expect after I put my change in the machine. I wanted to jump right in the pool. My friends and I had fun, dunking each other. I felt like an older kid and decided to try to jump off the low diving board. Self-doubt came over me that I might drown.

The next phase of my life was starting high school, I was unsure of what to expect. I was starting a new school with none of my friends from middle school. I remember taking home economics, and my first assignment was to make macaroni and cheese. My confidence level was low as I made the recipe, afraid I was going to forget a step or burn something.

Fresh out of high school I enrolled in college, as did some of my friends. I had two years to finish college with an Associate’s degree. When classes actually started, I felt the workload was overwhelming. I started dropping classes and taking classes that would not lead me to graduate on time, such as tae kwon do. I began to feel like I wasn’t capable and college wasn’t meant for me.

Time went by and