Every since I was a little girl, I was convinced that I was meant to do great things. In my mind I constructed my ideal high school life that I sincerely thought would be my reality. I would get straight A’s, be an amazing athlete, and have an amazing social life. Everything would be perfect.

Unfortunately my high school dream was crushed when I actually got to high school. I had never considered how much work would go into fulfilling my ideal teenage life. High school has been tough, and nothing has gone according to plan.

I am not going to lie, my academic life has been rough. Everyone had always told me that junior year was the hardest year, but I had always assumed that it would be different for me. I was wrong. Despite my hopes and dreams of maintaining perfect grades, I have been unable to live up to my own high standards. This year has been challenging in ways that I could have never imagined. The amount of work and stress have made me question everything about my academic career. High school has pushed me and made me realize that I am not the perfect student that I had once thought.

My athletic life has also been far from perfect. Sports are hard. Despite the number of wishes I make on shooting stars and birthday candles, I am unable to change reality. I am not a sports star. I like to tell myself that part of the reason is that I am a 5’2” girl playing a sport where the most successful athletes are at around 6’0”. But the fact is that I am not as athletic as they are. As much as I would like to think that I can overcome the odds, the truth of the matter is that MY best will never be THE best.

My social life is practically nonexistent. My Friday nights usually consist of eating junk food and watching Freaks and Geeks on Netflix with my best friend. Weekends are worse. After sports practice I spend my entire Saturday sleeping. Then on Sunday I work and sleep some more. The truth is that I do not have an exciting or extravagant social life. In all honesty I prefer to spend my free time relaxing at home

Although not everything has gone according to plan, it does not mean that high school has not been, and will not continue to be, great. I may not be the next Albert Einstein or an upcoming olympian, but the challenges that I have faced in high school have allowed me to grow as a person. I accept that I am average at many things, but the things I do have allowed me to realize what kind of person I am. I like a challenge, and even if I cannot be perfect in everything I do, it will not stop me from continuing to challenge myself.

The rude awakenings that I have experienced have taught me that high school is not meant to be perfect and picturesque. It is not about fulfilling some sort of idealized perfection check list, but about facing challenges and making mistakes in order to learn about who we are as individuals. It is not about living up to expectations, but experiencing life and learning from our failures. High school is about growth. So instead of stressing out about failed tests or lost sports games, we should just accept them and move on. All we can do is learn, and hopefully that, in and of itself, will make us into the great people we are all meant to be.