Critical Life Experiences that Impacted My Life Essay

Critical Life Experiences that Impacted My Life - Essay Example I must admit that one of the greatest life experiences that have shaped by values and beliefs is having been brought up in a Christian set up. I was born in a family that greatly values Christianity. My parents have always adored and upheld Christian values and taught the same to their children. I grew up to appreciate the importance of church in developing values and beliefs (Branson, 2009; Hunt, 1999). As a small child, I began to learn what is right or wrong by putting everything in the context of Christianity. Being raised Catholic in a small country town in Australia made me develop strong Christian values. I continually developed the values of truth, fairness, care, loyalty, respect, purity, equality among others (Branson, 2009). The catholic community draws values and beliefs from the Bible (Hunt, 1999) and, therefore, I have become a strong believer in biblical teachings. However, all the values that I have gained from being associated with the catholic teachings have been af firmed and cemented by my parents who have always made a follow up on my Christian development. My parents, especially my father, strongly believe that good values are nurtured since childhood. A strong family background is overwhelmingly important in impacting values and motivating children towards their set goals in life (Hunt, 1999). My experiences in a large family that upholds family values have made me grow tremendously in human values. As a family, we have always appreciated the importance of family functions, such as get together ceremonies, weddings, birthday celebrations among other family functions. These diverse family functions have really encouraged me to uphold family values and the importance of the family as a basic unit for the society (Branson, 2009). More importantly, the financial, moral, and psychological support I have received from the large family base have greatly motivated me in achieving my goals in life. Actually, I have been able to achieve much in life especially in academics by the need to meet and exceed the standards that have already been set by my family members (Tysum, 2010). Exposure to different social and cultural set ups across the world have been a great boost to my behavior and values. I have travelled and taught in different parts of the world, especially in the US and London. Admittedly, the exposure to different social set ups have greatly impacted on my behavior in my endeavor to fit in those set ups. For instance, I had to take time to learn new cultural beliefs every time I went to a new society. When I went to teach in London, I had to learn new behavior in order to fit perfectly in the society. Additionally, I had to change my behavior and adapt to the cultural system of the US. This way, I was able to integrate with the society and expedite my duties as a lecturer effectively. I must admit that the exposure to different societal set ups have acted as a great motivation. When I was teaching in the US, I came a cross teachers that are more experienced and more effective in their teaching methods. In the process, I learned to be more competitive by striving to be better than the experts are and this has indeed been a great motivation especially in my career as a teacher. Different societal set ups have different value attached to education among other social tenets (Burton, Smith & Brundrett, 2002; Branson, 2009). For instance, the European and American education systems are slightly different