Dreams, hopes, and goals. Fears, anxiety, and tension. The student is one of the kind. As we continue the dreading and exciting journey of life, we will experience more than just heartbreaks and friendships. We will learn. We will succeed. Thomas Jefferson once said that the three most vital things in life are living, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Yet while living and being free is possible, pursuit of happiness can be extremely difficult to find. While our guardians and teachers help us try to be stable on this path, it is us that actually breaks through the veil of fear and anxiety. The vines that were covering this path can be broken with just a different mindset. It’s what you put your mind to. As I exit middle school, I realized that. We heal hearts and break hearts. We have dark backgrounds and a happy “fake” face. We have had happy backgrounds but are depressed. We have distinct pasts and shared personalities. We are students.

From laughter to tears, building blocks to building towers, advisors and teachers build the bridge to success slowly. In that bridge, accidents will occur and a detour will be required. You are not alone at that bridge; rather, you will go on this huge bridge with millions of others that are the same age as you. But this bridge can lead to different paths. It’s just a matter of your mindset of where you would wish to go.

Throughout life, we create life skills that are not necessarily needed, but unique. Spinning that basketball on the tip of the finger. Kicking left and right with the soccer ball. As you develop these skills, you can use them in your team to show you got talent. To show you got a little game. I can do a bit of this. I can show you what I got. It’s a message. You got this down. You should be in that league, you should be in that swim team, you should be on that basketball team. However, especially throughout this stage of time, it’s harder. People want to be on that top level and want that light shone on them. They want to be the best. But it’s really just a step in the process. The things we are learning right now and the competitions we win are just tools rather than items used for competition. Tools used for game. I know this, I know that. I won this, I won that. But in the long run, you’re using that for the supposed scary “real world.” You need to show what you’ve done to be chosen by that boss. You need to be that one person who is the star. But all of that roots down to right now.

In this epic journey and race to be successful, sacrifices will be made to proceed accordingly. “Never give up,” they say as the cliche has been used for millennials. However, sometimes the best sacrifice is to give up to let in more of something else. With this big factor in play, either regret or happiness will be the result. However, regrets will be made since no one can be perfect at making the best choice. For example, I used to take debate class then I quit so I could do more of academic activities overall. To attain everything to be the best is absolute nonsense. Yet, society criticizes on every point that you haven’t achieved. To crack this fake veil of hopes and fears, the only thing we can do is pursue so forth. When society pushes us forward, we move forward with them. When society goes backward however, we move forward because it’s our generation to create an everlasting life for all. Society pushes on all sides of us. But we have some things to protect and fight back. Our family. Our friends. Our happiness. Our mentality. The things that make us truly real.

Teachers, parents, guardians, advisors, you name it. They’re all there for you to help you out. Help you out. They aren’t there to carve your path, they help you create your path. But we are the heroes of our lives that make this path for us. Carve it, destroy it, make a detour, and come out of this confusing maze that we live in today. We can change the game. We can change the world. As one of the most intelligent generations, we should fulfill our duty of living up to our honor and keep working harder instead of slacking. A seventh grade language teacher of mine made me draw once about any inspirational message. Obviously, at first I was reluctant as I am lacking skills in the artistic area, but I created an image anyhow. I painted an image of an ugly brown spot in the middle of a light blue background. If you see an ugly image in the front and a beautiful background, what would you notice first? It’s probably the image since it’s so striking. But the background really makes up for it. It compensates for everything that’s been wrong. Whereas people would point out all your flaws, they never seem to notice your beautiful background and your traits. Flaws are flaws and will take time to fix. But why not look at these already fixed things and appreciate them? A better mindset would lead to a better society. One step at a time, even adults can fix this problem, not only students. We can make this change. Why? Because we are kids. We are teens. We are students.