The New Me vs the Old Me

My upbringing and experiences in life have shaped me and made me who I am today. I am defined by my troubles in the past, my family, my education, my goals, and money. A lot of things have happened in my life that put me where I am today. I have been through an abusive family, exposed to inappropriate things, had run-ins with the law, and experienced a lot of things in my life. There are so many interesting stories in my life such as the time I was taken from my parents because of abuse and how my life changed from there. I feel these stories I have to tell will inform people of who I am and what shapes me.
I lived in Texas for ten years before being taken from my parents and put in foster care due to abuse. Texas is very busy and big, especially the city where I was born, Houston. There were a lot of crimes where I grew up and sometimes it wasn’t a good place to live. Texas shaped a small part of me growing up because of all the influences around me. Most of my family still lives in Texas except my brother and sister, who are here in North Carolina. Living without my family here is hard and I wonder about them and how they are doing. I have always thought about moving back home to Texas but I feel it would be useless. I don’t fit in with my biological family because I haven’t seen them in over twelve years.
From the ages of four to ten, I was neglected and abused by both my parents. My parents would leave me home by myself or with their friends who never watched me. I was allowed to roam around the neighborhood and do whatever I wanted and get into trouble. I would do the smallest things and get into trouble and my parents would beat me for nothing. I would be punished for things I would do by accident or didn’t know was wrong. I didn’t know the difference between right and wrong, and that caused me to get into trouble. My feelings towards my parents changed a lot because of how I was treated; I had mixed feelings about them and didn’t know whether or not I