It was as cold as snow in the quiet hospital I was in. I was waiting for the doctors to tell me if my health was fine or not. My hands were shaking, and I was breathing heavily. The doctor finally arrived, and the most unexpected thing was said to me. “ Mrs. Izquierdo sorry to say this, but you have been diagnosed with severe high blood pressure”. My heart almost felt like it broke into a million pieces. I knew high blood pressure was manageable enough to get through, but the thing that was stressing me out the most was throwing my love for art away. I was stressed about the high blood pressure, yes, but throwing away what I love most due to high blood pressure was making me more stressed.

My hands were turning the wheel while I was driving on the road. My heart was still devastated from what the doctor had told me a few hours ago. Painting has given me wonderful , and unforgettable events that occurred in my life. Painting was my happy place, and everytime I got up to go paint on a blank sheet of paper I felt like no one else was in the world, but me. So having to give that up to focus on my health was a pretty devastating thought. Feelings were rushing through me, the feelings of stress.

The sun felt duller today than a bright, and happy one. I was still deciding if I should quit my career or not. Then I had a thought. Everyone views me as a strong, and confident person. A person who would never give up, and keep pushing forward. “This thought might really help me out” I thought to myself. After some thinking I’ve decided to keep going, and not give up on the thing I love most. The thing that made me feel most happiest, and peaceful, was painting.

So I started to think in my mind about painting. I felt calm, and happy. I was a tidal wave just going through the motions in a peaceful state. It was crazy how just thinking about me pretending to paint made me feel like this. My brain had realized I was stressing too much over something, and if I keep stressing the feeling is gonna get in the way of my life. My parents always tell me to never let stress get in the way of your life, even if it’s a really bad situation.

Out of nowhere I started thinking of how this world works. I felt as if life was sweet, but sour. Well it was, life gives you good opportunities, but comes right at you with bad ones. I started comparing my thoughts to my situation. The bad situation that occured was my high blood pressure, and the good was not giving up.

After all that thinking, it felt like I was going through mixed emotions. My emotions throughout this whole thing went from stressed, to in a calm, and peaceful state, to being confused. I thought to myself that a bad situation can make you feel so many emotions, but in the end I was happy that I didn't give up on my passion for art, and how it makes me truly feel.

So in the end I ended up not giving up on something that made me truly happy, and not stress too much. I kept on painting while focusing on my health at the same time. Feelings were very mixed up sometimes, and I felt like I was going to explode any moment. I knew I was going to come to my death really soon, and it was heartbreaking, but I learned to be strong, and keep pushing forward.