Starting high school, I always knew I would end up joining newspaper. I loved to write, I loved to design and I loved hearing people’s opinions and experiences.
Everyone has a story, and newspaper gave me a way to seek them out and share them with the rest of the school.
However, I realized sophomore year I had been neglecting my own. In my fear of failing, I never put myself out there or tried anything new. I was letting life happen to me instead of living the one I wanted.
Stories have always been a part of my life — from the movies I would watch or the books I would read — and through the tales of people saving the world, I learned lessons I will always carry with me.
One of the most important things I learned was that life is a leap of faith — that’s all it is. You can’t wait to feel ready or for that perfect moment. If you wait for the things you want, they’ll pass you by. You have to do things feeling scared and unprepared or else you never will.
I knew I had to take that leap of faith and pick up the pen to write my own story.
There were many times during high school that I thought my life was over, my world would end — but it didn’t. I got up and muddled through whatever I had been avoiding or whatever mistake I had made and, surprisingly, made it to a new day.
It took me a while to learn that the earth would not erupt into flames at the smallest failure and that those failures were necessary for successes.
Now, as a senior, I’m so glad I made the mistakes I did and got to learn from them. I became more comfortable in who I was and what I was capable of.
I got to be the Design Editor of the newspaper with the kindest and most entertaining staff, and I got to make new friends I never would have met if I hadn’t put myself out there.
Even though my story isn’t filled with superheroes or world-threatening odds, there are still people who have saved me and things that made each day worth waking up for.
Your life doesn’t have to be as exciting as the movies — it just has to be enough for you.
High school is only one chapter of your life. You have an entire story yet to live.
