About a year ago, I was working for the county and happier than I was all of sophomore year. Summer had melted away the school year and I could finally do whatever I wanted. I thought it was the best time of high school.
But it wasn’t. Junior year brought so much more self confidence and I finally wasn’t anxious all the time. It was like I took a deep breath.
So, what made me so much happier? There isn’t one specific reason, but I think growing up had something to do with it. With time comes lessons and perspective no matter how old you are if you’re open to it. I don’t think I was a year ago. I had gotten too comfortable in what I knew. I thought I was gonna hate Junior year and have to white-knuckle my way through all the anxiety I felt. Instead I learned to cope and feel better (though junior year still sucked).
A lot of those coping strategies came through mindset shifts I couldn’t have known about a year ago. I didn’t know I would realize how little actually mattered. There’s so much you just have to wait to discover, and I wish I knew that before I got so worked up about the future.
We all need to get more comfortable with uncertainty. No one knows what the future will look like, so try not to make assumptions, especially if those assumptions upset you. The future could be the best or the worst case scenario, and you don’t know which one until it happens. Your stress won’t influence what happens, so you might as well try to embrace the uncertainty of the present.
Until Next Time,
Ella Greene
