u/Former_Fold_1366

When I was sixteen, I was desperately trying to crawl out of depression. School had just ended, and I was isolated in my own space. There was nothing in the world that seemed worth getting out of bed for; I was losing weight rapidly. I needed a reason to get up, so I decided to do something that would get me moving again. My first day training at Waffle House was overwhelming, but for the first time in months, I didn't hate getting out of bed. Morning shift at Waffle House was horrible. Servers couldn't even finish cleaning a table before a new family would sit in it. But I saw people laughing, older adults coming to chat, regulars who had no family finding one there. That made me realize that working wasn't all about the money. After a while, I started waitressing. At first, I was horrible with the rushes. I remember sobbing after someone yelled at me about missing bacon, but after a while, I got the hang of it. I remember being swarmed by old ladies who told me how smart and hardworking I was, and with that praise, I began to gain more confidence in my skills. For the first year of being a waitress, I worked evenings. I had regulars, friends, and an amazing manager. I discovered that working actually made me happy. When school started back up, I didn't get many hours. I ended up getting a second job at Dairy Queen. Working two jobs at sixteen was hard, but it taught me the value of hard work and that I wasn't incapable of doing what I wanted to do with my life. With the money I made, I was able to get out of public school and enroll in a self-paced homeschool so I could graduate a year early. Having the funds to support my education really fueled my work ethic. I even got promoted to first shift, which is highly demanded by most Waffle House employees. At this point, my depression had faded away, and I found myself happier and excited to see my friends at work, but I knew I wanted to do something more. I started studying more, keeping up a 4.0 GPA, and making an effort to learn Spanish. A lot of my customers are Hispanic, and I didn't want them to feel embarrassed about not speaking much English. It helped orders come out faster, and I made friends with a lot of the Hispanic people who ate at Waffle House. It made me happy that I was helping people. Later on, my uncle Matt had rotten teeth; he couldn't eat like normal people, and he was in constant pain. After a while, he went to the dentist and got new teeth. I watched as he got more confident, ate better, and smiled so much more. Watching this happen to someone so close made me want to help people like that, so I'm going to become a dentist so that I can help people like the dentist who helped my uncle. While college hunting, I came across the University of Kentucky, and its sense of community stood out to me. I started seeing UK as another family, just like the one I had built with Waffle House. My journey through work has shaped the way I see the world. The friendships I've made, the regulars I've connected with, and the lessons I've learned have all helped shape who I am today. I've learned that growth doesn't happen all at once; it happens every time you choose to keep going, even when it's hard. Most importantly, I've learned that by showing up for other people, I can become a stronger version of myself. That's something I'll carry with me into college and into my future as a dentist.