Reality Check

There is a common saying I’m pretty sure everyone has heard throughout school. That saying is failure is the first step to knowing or something along those lines. Well, in our time, people these days, as we look around, have the mindset to be perfect and do the best at everything they do. They put their mind to it and do their best. But what happens when these people don’t do great the first time they have a setback, or they get upset with themselves and stress out because it’s not the best? Teenagers are not all, but I’ve met a lot who need to take the hardest classes so young, and sometimes they haven’t learned what they need for those classes yet but they want to push and o,verachieve. But they didn’t get a 4 the first time on an assignment, and now it’s the end of the world. Well, this is just the teenage mind. They think they didn’t do well enough because someone did bette,r or they just simply believe they failed. But in the long run, they are learning that they just don’t see growth. I believe that teenagers or young adults don’t take a step back and realize the growth or improvements they have gained and achieved throughout school and life.  Problems or struggles and setbacks offer us more and more opportunities to show growth in life. American jazz legend Duke Ellington said, “A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” This quote is correct, and nothing is clearer. Once you try your best, all you can do is keep trying your best and show improvement. 

Nothing’s perfect; you can’t get through life without a problem. It could be your home life, sports, schooling, and friends. But these opportunities are always present. You gain some of your best memories and skills that help you or set you up for adulthood. Move you to college or work first, but it’s not simple. You can’t just skip it if problems occur. You will have setbacks to prepare you. But you can’t have the mindset that you will be great. For schooling, one thing I learned is that I’m a person who doesn’t do the best. What I mean by this is I do the bare minimum freshman year. Now I do my best to get the four, but if I don’t get it, I don’t stress myself out in order to have the perfect 4.0 grade. Some people believe grades define them, but they don’t. Effort and determination from setbacks build your character. I believe problems you get in school is the work load and then being a over achiever trying to get fours which is a good thing but when you then get a 3.5 and think or stress yourself out but students need to remember that you are taking other classes your work load is heavy the classes you might be taking are heavy its hard to balance everything perfectly but the positives to look at or opportunities from this colleges look at the classes you took the grades you maintained and the consistency you do whether you are improving or not. They don’t need to see perfect scores in all the best classes; they need to see effort and determination. 

Sports is another big topic where I believe problems can lead to opportunities. Many problems could arise in sports. Whether that be players, coaches, or team performance. This leads to growth. The teams could be facing a challenging team, preparing for defeat sucks. It’s a bad feeling when you know or have a feeling it will be pointless lying when almost everyone knows you will lose anyway. The problem is everyone’s energy is down, so now how would you win? With a bad mindset, you are allowing the other team to win. You need the whole team to have some faith and play their best game. Maybe the outcome could surprise you. Coaches might face problems because of the way they act. Some have favorites, and you, as a player, are now faced with problems, asking yourself what you can do to see time. What can I do to feel noticed? It’s hard to live there. But the opportunities you have are be there for the team, show them what you can do, play your best in practice do the best in the games, so they don’t have a reason to take you out, and show them what you do for the team performance-wise and simply as a teammate, be your best, be loud support and help others. Show your coaches you are just as needed to keep the team together and help out. Coaches are hard to work around. You don’t come by a good coach often, but when you do, that program with the right players and talent will come. This year I’ve dealt with a lot. But it allowed me to show up for my team. I’m not getting the results I want, but I still want to be there for others. 

Failing is proof that you are trying; it gives you opportunities to show growth. Whether it is struggling with grades, feeling pressure to be perfect, or facing challenges in sports, these moments shape who we become. High schoolers, not all, but some, believe they have to be perfect to have good outcomes in the future. Reality check, that’s impossible and puts way too much stress on yourself. These setbacks show more than being perfect; they show what you can handle and that you are capable of learning a lesson as well. Life is not about being perfect, it’s hard on people to hold that stress on you. You will encounter problems in life that slow you down and take the opportunities they give you to navigate through an obstacle and then move on. If we change our mindset and take off the weight of being perfect, then start struggles as chances to grow then life overall will be better.

“Opportunity Center” by {Futuretester | Jason Tester} is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

“l´unic problema ( El cami de les estrelles ) – the only problem ( the saint jacques way )” by Jordi@photos is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.