The American Dream is the ideal of equal opportunity to achieve your goals and have a better life. Many people have a dream, but not everyone has the same opportunity to achieve it. Achieving the American dream is not easy because it requires working hard and overcoming obstacles that arise along the way. Everyone has a dream, but for some it is not easy to achieve. My American dream is to have a stable job so I can thrive, buy my own home, start a family, and help my parents. It may not be easy to achieve, but with sacrifice, dedication and faith, anything is possible. Say no. to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay An obstacle that may need to be overcome to achieve the American dream may be moving to a new place and having to learn a new language, make new friends or find a new job. For example, my father, Rogelio Valencia, came to the United States from Mexico at age 18. It was difficult for him to adapt to the American way of life because there are many different cultures than what he was used to. He also had to leave behind many friends and family members. Once he arrived in the United States, he realized it was a new beginning for him. I'm lucky not to have to experience this problem because I've lived in the same place for 13 years. Sometimes in life it's okay to make new changes and start all over again. Making a change offers new opportunities. A difficult challenge when trying to achieve the American dream is learning a different language. My father came to the United States and only knew how to speak Spanish; it was difficult for him to communicate with others. It became a problem but later he learned to speak some English, it wasn't fluent but he was able to communicate better. He learned in a job where everyone spoke English, he had to learn because he needed to communicate with his colleagues and clarify things when he wasn't sure about something. I am lucky to have grown up in a place where English is taught to children from a young age and I did not have to struggle to learn a new language later, like my father. There are obstacles on the path to achieving the American dream, but getting there requires growing up and overcoming tough times. The obstacles that one has overcome once are what make the person who they are when it comes time to achieve the American dream. One obstacle that many people face when coming to a new place to achieve the American dream is settling for less because it feels like they are settling for less. I cannot achieve or do better. My godfather's sister, for example, is a single mother of three, she only cleans about 2 houses a week and as soon as she has enough money to live on for the week, she stops. She conforms to what she can do with as few houses as possible as long as she has enough for the week. I started working this year and realized that making $18/hour in the Bay Area wasn't enough due to its high cost. I don't want to work my whole life for minimum wage and settle for that. I want to be able to have a well-paying job that interests me. Being able to work in a job that allows me to cover my monthly expenses as well as save for emergencies is important to someone. It is important to overcome these obstacles by trying to do new and better things. If we do not overcome obstacles, we will remain stuckat the same point for the rest of his life. You should never settle for less but rather more. Poverty is a barrier for many people to achieving the American dream. Many people have no money or come from a low-income family where money becomes an issue and does not allow them to achieve their goals. Erin and Sarah, in their article “It Takes a Village to Sustain the American Dream,” argue that “children raised on the bottom rung of the economic ladder and who exit it as adults are also more financially secure than their childhood friends who remain stuck there. What Erin and Sarah said reminded me of middle school where I was friends with people who were starting to dislike their lifestyle. People I was friends with took the easy route of selling drugs because they saw that money was coming to them very easily and they could now get what they wanted by adopting a style of different life. I understood how desperate they were to get their needs met, but it wasn't the path I would have liked them to take. I grew up with the same problems that I wanted so much from a young age, but it wasn't possible for my parents to give me everything I wanted. During my senior year, once I turned 18, I waited about 2 months after that and then applied to work for the district where I became a youth instructor. Once I found a job, I was able to start getting the things I wanted, but in the "right" way and not like my college friends. I have now been employed for 7 months and purchased a brand new car from the dealership myself thanks to the hard work and effort I put in. I am currently employed full time and studying full time and I want to be able to become a police officer, have my own house, be financially stable and make up for it not only for myself but also for my parents who have I made a lot of sacrifices to me and my sister. Many people come from poor backgrounds and find the easy way out by joining gangs and drugs. This shouldn't be the case, you have to go to college or try to start a business and we know that trying to start a business or go to college is expensive but we live where funding is available . Getting grants, loans or scholarships can help us achieve our dreams (goals). Family has been a barrier for many people in pursuing their American dream. Not having the support of one's family or if the family does not believe in it, it can be very difficult for a person to achieve the goals that an individual may set for themselves. Melissa Carver, in her article “What to Do When Your Family Is Not Supportive of Your Goals,” says, “There will be times when certain family members are not supportive of your goals. » Sometimes we don't get the response we want from our family or have disagreements, but that's okay. For example, when I first told my parents that my dream job was to become a police officer, I received negative comments. My dad said to me, “No, I don’t agree with what you want, do you want to get shot and die?” Why don't you become a doctor or something? The fact that my parents disagreed with me and my father said negative things to me hurt me. Each time, I was asked: “What do you want to do when you grow up?” » I always answered the same thing and my parents also told me the same thing. I wasn't going to let my parents' negative comments stop me from doing what I wanted to do. Over time, they realizedthat I really wanted to become a police officer and they started to accept what I wanted. I am now in college and taking my AJ classes so I can graduate and apply to become an officer. I have the support of my family and I'm happy to have it because they have finally accepted it, this is what I want and it will make me happy. We all want to have the support of our family to achieve our goals, but that's not always what we want. We shouldn't let our family stop us from succeeding, sometimes it's better to be alone and succeed on our own. Another obstacle that an individual may face when trying to achieve the American dream is education. My father had to leave school very young and from then on, he never returned to school, he did not have the opportunity to continue his studies. He started working at a very young age and once he arrived in the United States, he had difficulty finding employment, as many jobs require people to have at least a high school diploma and social security. He worked with different companies but he felt that the salary and days were not enough. My father instead bought an old Volkswagen which he took apart all the parts of the car and in his free time he started putting the car back together. He then began working on cars for close family and friends and eventually became a self-employed mechanic. On the other hand, I am going to university to become a police officer and you need training to become a police officer. I am lucky to be in a country where education is accessible to everyone and my parents gave it to me because not everyone has the chance to have an education. My father managed to become a mechanic not the easy way but rather the risky and difficult way. On the other hand, I have the easiest path to success because I was fortunate enough to receive an education that will lead me to my dream job. Succeeding without an education can be difficult. We are fortunate to live in a place where there are adult schools and continuing schools that help people graduate. Once you graduate, you can achieve your goals. Additionally, trying to please someone else can make it very difficult for someone to achieve their American dream. It often happens that someone tries to convince someone to do things their way and people go along with what others say. For example, my cousin never became a Marine as she wanted to because her parents told her they didn't want her to move away from them. She followed what her parents told her and never did what she wanted to do, she works taking care of the elderly in her town. When I first told my parents that I wanted to become a police officer, they told me that I shouldn't do it because it was a very risky job and as a girl, being a doctor or something else suited me best. I always told them that I wanted to be able to do work that I really enjoyed and not what they wanted. Over time, they began to understand me and that it was not their choice but rather mine because I am the one who will experience it. My parents learned from my uncles mistake when they forbade their daughter from doing what she wanted and now she is forced to do something she didn't want her permanent job to be. It is important to note that no matter what you do, you should always do things or something because you want to do it and not because others tell you to too. Many people face the problem of low self-esteem and are negative about what they do. everything and it becomes a..