Hello, I’m Chloe Justine Rodrigue and I was born in Sudbury Ontario. My mom is French Canadian and my dad is French Canadian – Québec Métis.
I was raised mostly by my dad’s parents in Chelmsford, On where I went to French elementary school and did dance at a local studio. Chelmsford was an interesting place in the 2000’s, I would give it the « white trash aesthetic » to put it bluntly. That has changed with time though, with families building up their wealth especially with progressive salary increases in the mines with the years. My family did exactly that, my mom is a teacher that studied at Laurentian University in Sudbury and my dad is now a Mine Chemical Sales Manager that went to Waterloo University. When I was younger my dad was away often for work in mining towns up north like Timmins and Malartic. My mom had her own personal challenges at the time and was not working but has since overcome and has been my role model ever since.
Highschool is where all my problems started. My grandfather on my dad’s side was diagnosed with multiple cancers, therefore I couldn’t really stay with my grandparents anymore and had to spend more time at home. Some of my teachers were worried about my situation at home and had CAS involved. That put a lot of stress on my mom and we had distant contact for some time. I met a girl that was in a similar situation to mine and we became inseparable. I would often stay at her house and we would try different drugs every weekend. This varied from weed, alcohol, mushrooms, acid and « molly » that was meth. We both loved the risk and the feeling it gave us, because we didn’t have to think about our situations with our parents. Experimenting with these drugs led me to try my grandfather’s oxycodone. I then got addicted for 6 months. Oxycodone was revolutionary for me at the time because it numbed any emotion I had, so I was able to focus on being a perfect child for my parents so that I would feel loved. In highschool I did 6 sports: xc, gymnastics, track, snowboarding, swimming, skiing. 4 clubs: science fair, club français, ÉcoÉcole et club autochtone. I was president of the Youth Volunteer Council of Sudbury and finance minister on my school’s student council. I wrote and published articles in the regional student paper. I was the perfect student but had so many problems with understanding and feeling emotion that I became very anxious and depressed.
University was the biggest reality check ever. I was studying first year at Glendon, York University’s French campus in International Studies and Business Administration. At the time I had a good circle of friends, 2 on campus jobs, but the shock of everything being different as well as my medication not being perfected made me have a lot of problems mentally. Second year, I stopped taking my medication completely which made me a mess and no one was able to deal with me because of my extreme emotions and irritability. I didn’t go to classes, partied, drank too much and didn’t respect other people. I lost my friends as a result and that made me start to realize that I have issues. Started taking my meds regularly, doing therapy 4h a week for 6 months and I enrolled in a Women in Trades program as a millwright apprentice at a nuclear power plant to give me a new start. I did part time school as well as the program, and after moved to Oshawa to be nearer to my work.
Working made me realize what real life is, and being the youngest one on the job site and a girl, made me stand out. However this isn’t a bad thing since everyone wanted to talk to me, I got to be friends and meet so many interesting people because I was outgoing and different. I learned so much from them, not only skill wise but about life. Living by myself also made me realize how hard being independent is but I got the hang of it by the end. My friends at work encouraged me to keep pursuing a degree since I only had a year left, and if I completed that and a millwright certification I would become a « Blue Seal millwright » which is sounds so cool.
Now, currently I’m back at school and never enjoyed being a student so much. Student life is way easier than working at a nuclear powerplant, it’s more enjoyable. This year I’m on the cheerleading team, model UN club and the indigenous club. I go to all my classes, made new connections on campus and started loving every single moment of life. I have a great relationship with my family and call and visit them often. Working on myself and my close relationships gave me the happiness I deserve and also made me more enjoyable to be around. Everyone goes through stuff, and I’m here to tell you that it’s totally possible to get over your challenges, it just takes A LOT of time, patience, consistent effort and self discipline.
If you judge me for my past that is something you need to look at deeper in yourself and analyze if you want to spend the rest of your life judging people for things that cannot be changed but have been lessons for them. I Hope you enjoyed reading my life, xoxo chloe
