I'm above average. I've known this my entire life. I was always decently smart, decently nice, just decent. Lately I've realized, though, decent isn't good enough.
There is nothing that can ever prepare you for your last year of high school. It is one of the most stressful times of a person's life. Over and over the same question is being asked, what are you going to do with your life? Most seventeen-year-olds don't know and the ones that do haven't the slightest idea of how to accomplish it.
Do you want to go to college? Technical school? Start a career? If you do, how are you going to get there? When you're younger, they tell you to stay in school, but don't give much further guidance. They don't tell you that staying in school isn't enough. Being college ready isn't enough. Sometimes, being the best isn't enough.
The biggest stress in my life right now is how I am going to pay around $100,000 for an education. I qualify some scholarships, whether it be need- or merit-based. But some isn't enough. It isn't okay to put some effort into things. It isn't okay to be amongst some of the best. You need to at least strive for excellence. I tried what I thought was my hardest, but the academic top ten strove three times harder.
In life, someone will always be better-this much is fact. I can deal with that. If someone is going in the same direction as me, though, shouldn't we be striving for the same things? If not, won't I just be selling myself short?
Settling is never acceptable. Good enough is no longer good enough. Somehow I will find ways to pay for my much-deserved education. I'm not sure how, but I'm not so sure that matters. The point is well, I guess we're all still figuring that out.
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