“My greatest achievement is surrounding myself with good people and overcoming a toxic mindset. Moving forward was a really good thing for me. Life has taught me that you gotta keep moving forward and obstacles are inevitable. You’re going to face things in life and you can’t expect it to be a breeze but, at the same time, I think that life has taught me that those hard times and that adversity really give life its beauty. I really see it in a different light because of that. Every person in this world is going to struggle and the longer you live, the more you’re going to struggle. There is no perfect happiness. There is no perfect world. Everybody has probably had a time when they have been broken. My overall idea of happiness is just enjoying the moments, making memories, living life, learning when to let go of things that are no longer good for you, and just constantly choosing yourself. A lot of people try to force the word ‘selfish’ and say you’re selfish for wanting to do this but it’s OK because you’re really responsible for you. A lot of times you do have to put yourself first. You can look out for others all you want but at the end of the day, your main responsibility is you and that’s life.” – Mia Perry, 18, of Birmingham.

Perry is a senior at Ramsay High School and hopes to become a criminal defense attorney. She said it’s important to rely on yourself to lift yourself up.

Mia Perry of Birmingham said you need to work every day at loving yourself. (Tyneisha Carter / People of Alabama)

“Work every day to love yourself. It’s not a destination. It’s a constant obstacle. The best advice that I could give would be to never give up trying to overcome that obstacle because it’s the biggest obstacle in your life and if you keep beating that, you can beat anything.”

These are the faces and stories of people from all walks of life who call Alabama home. People of Alabama is a Red Clay Media and Alabama NewsCenter partnership.