free write - influential person -- chris

One person who has had a great influence on my life is actually my ex-boyfriend. We dated off and on for almost two years starting my sophomore year here at Eastern. Through that time I was shown many great characteristics that I love in a relationship, but also some that I wasn’t too keep on. We tried and tried to make the relationship work, but eventually came to realize that we just weren’t at the same place or on the same page of what we wanted in a relationship. When we finally broke it off for good, we kept in touch and still talk occasionally today. The reason he was such a great influence is because even when it was something other than what he needed in a relationship, he always pushed me to be the best person I could be and not to sacrifice who I am for someone else. We helped each other see that just because you want something doesn’t mean that you should do whatever it takes to get it; sometimes you have to do what you need, not what you want.

Throughout the entirety of our relationship, we both relied heavily on his family for support. He is extremely close with his parents and siblings and they all accepted me into the family right away. They helped me when he pissed me off and I didn’t know how to handle some of his tangents, but they also helped him when he didn’t understand my thought process or difficulties. Even though I don’t keep as much contact with him and his family as I would like, they’re still a huge part of me because they help me think about whom I want to be and what I want from life. I have gained an appreciation for myself and he helped me learn that just because I’m not what one person needs/wants in life doesn’t mean I’m not perfectly imperfect.

He would always tell me—after one of our break-ups—that just because he didn’t like something about me didn’t mean that it was bad or needed changing. Whenever he would tell me something along those lines it would remind me of a quote by Dita Van Teese that says, “You can be the ripest, juiciest, peach in the world, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.” It’s something that I’ve always kept in my mind since we finally broke things off a little over a year ago and it has helped shape me into a much more confidant person than I used to be.