Enjoy your time because your high school years fly by is what I’ve been told time and time again, but I never believed it. That was until it was my senior year when it really hit me. I could think about my memories from freshmen year, and it truly didn’t feel like it was that long ago. It wasn’t that long ago that I had my first class and met new people. It wasn’t that long ago when I joined my first sport. It wasn’t that long ago that this era of my life began.

Freshmen year I joined the cross-country team but not for the reason you may think. I wanted to play for the basketball team so I was told I should do cross-country for conditioning before the season. I caved in and joined without knowing the memories I was about to make. I ended up not making the basketball team but at least I still had cross country. I stayed on the team for three years and met lots of people and met some of the best coaches I’ve met.

Notice how I said three years. You’re probably saying, “Isn’t high school four years”? And you’re right it is four years, but I didn’t stay on the team for all four years. Although I did like the team and the coaches I never liked running. You would think that after three years of running you would grow a connection to it but not me. My junior year my coach wanted me to run track again, but it was during this time I felt lost with my ambitions and what I was doing. I barely survived cross country that year and I had basketball right after which took its toll on me and my mental health. Then having to do track right after two consecutive seasons, I simply couldn’t.

In all honesty I didn’t really like Track and with my mind all foggy and being overall lost in my life at the time I decided I wasn’t going to run Track. This was one of the hardest things I had to do in my high school career because I had grown a connection with my coach, and I knew he would want me to stay on the team. I eventually had to suck it up and get it over with and when I told him he was more understanding than I imagined. It felt relieving finally doing something that has been lingering in the back of your mind for so long.

This was the point in my life where I decided to take a new direction and focus on my ambitions. Now with all this free time I had on my hands I decided to focus on my dreams and started editing more and more and simply being consistent. It felt liberating having all the stress I built up over the years finally be gone. The point I’m trying to get at is do what you want to do. Do things for yourself not for others. Do what you dream of and don’t let other people’s opinions drown out your dream. Life is hard and it’s like fighting back against a strong current, but you can do it. Go do that thing