Have you ever felt out of place wherever you went? Have you ever felt like there’s no one you can relate to and get close to?
I felt that way every day of eighth grade and freshman year of high school. While it was cut short due to the quarantine, freshman year presented a lot of challenges – some that I never got the chance to overcome. I fell victim to my own insecurities, believing every bad thing I said about myself. I pushed myself to do cross country, competitive debate, and compete in the National Economics Challenge, but I never gave myself the chance to actually find myself or figure out what mattered to me. Rushing from class to class, never taking the time to live in the moment, eventually took a toll on me.
On top of that, I was feeling alienated by my current friend group. I felt completely lost. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It gave me the time I desperately needed to reflect on who I wanted to be. No longer pushing myself to fit in to the group allowed me to find myself. The lonely days sitting in the library gave me the opportunity to read, reflect, and explore my passions.
When I finally quit debate, quit cross country, and stopped trying so hard to fit in, I learned about the world around me. A sudden epiphany in the middle of the night gave rise to a plethora of ideas that would soon become a website and a podcast. I met a compassionate girl who introduced me to her friend group, and then I figured out how to be myself and also fit in. Watching TikTok into the wee hours of the night finally became a long distant memory. I no longer felt bad about myself and my looks. School still is and will always be a challenge, but I know that I can manifest my dreams if I keep on working towards it. Being alone and going through hardship taught me that.
My parents and great uncle taught me that life is not just a numbers game where the winners take all the money and the fame. It is a wonderful journey we all get to take, holding hands with our loved ones and supporting them when they fall. We take this journey together, and we leave together. Life is beautiful, and we should be thankful for the life we are given.
I am just an average high school freshman, who has had her fair share of friendship drama, stress from peer pressure, and overdue homework. I have learned things the hard way, by failing, losing friends, and embarrassing myself in front of a crowd of people. All of my experiences in high school drama has taught me one thing: we need to support each other!
Lifting each other up and celebrating our differences are two of the many ways us teenagers can have the best high school experience. To create a community of loving and uplifting teenagers, I started an online platform and a podcast.The online platform is an online publishing platform for teenagers to submit their thoughts and experiences with maintaining wellness. It allows for any teen to create an account, interact with others’ posts, and express themselves through writing articles. The podcast is meant to help teens get a good sleep while also receiving helpful and effective tips and tricks to maintaining physical and mental wellbeing.
By facing hardship and loss, I realized that my purpose in life is to create something bigger than myself. The podcast and website are the fruits of my labor. To other students, all I ask from you is to learn from my mistakes and be grateful for what you have. Take advantage of the resources given to you, and appreciate yourself for everything that you are. Always take quality over quantity when it comes to relationships, and stay away from toxic and jealous people. Let’s lift each other up and create a beautiful, inspiring community.
HELP YOURSELF:
- Thank you so much for reaching out and sharing your story with the TeenCentral Community! We love hearing stories of people overcoming their struggles to improve their lives and then taking steps to help others do the same. It takes a lot of courage and commitment to reflect on who you are as a person and work towards finding your true self and what makes you really happy. The ability to own your flaws and mistakes and learn from them is another scary undertaking that can pay huge benefits in the end. Great job!
- At TeenCentral, we are huge fans of finding and using resources to help ourselves in all areas of life. In addition to the many stories we have, there are also tabs with other information that we hope will be useful. There’s a LEARN tab with material on various topics such as Wellness, Relationships, and Bullying. We even have a TOOLS tab with many cool resources like daily task charts, exercise guides, and support plans. It even includes a virtual hug and daily positive reminder for those moments when you just need a small “pick-me-up”.
- Making positive connections and creating a support system is super important to helping us through the daily journey of life no matter how old we are or how good/ not good life is going at that time. It’s awesome that you were able to get support and good life lessons from your parents and great uncle. Keep building and strengthening those connections.
CONSIDER THIS:
- Creating a platform and podcast to help others is really great way to give back and provide fellow teenagers an outlet. Just remember, being a support system and helping others can be difficult at times so it’s always vital to make sure you continue to have those outlets for yourself as part of a good self-care plan. Doing things like daily journaling and writing down your goals can help you stay on the right track.
- You seem to have a good focus on wellness and self-care – keep it up. We can always find ways to improve ourselves both physically and emotionally. Back under the TOOLS tab we have quite a few resources to help guide and support you through the process. Have you ever thought about creating a specific self-care plan for those days where motivation is sparse and you let those good intentions go by the wayside?
- There’s a great message of positivity throughout your story and that’s very inspiring. Continuing to do the positive things that not only lift you up, but help uplift others is a good way to stay stable and help you rise above any challenges that come your way. Always keep working to surround yourself with hobbies / positive people that improve your happiness. Are there any new avenues that you haven’t tried yet to keep this momentum of positive change moving?
