By Tatyana Martin
Selma High School
There’s several things I would tell my 7th grade self about growing up and going through school. I could say common things like “everybody is not your friend”, “focus on your school work”, “let nothing stop you from being great” and how not to give into peer pressure. I could say “you do your best until you simple can not anymore”. All of those things would have been helpful to me in 7th grade, however, the main thing I would tell myself is to simply “let go”. Do not hold onto the things that happened in the past, because it will only get in the way of your success. Growing up is hard, and it will only get worse if you hold on to every little thing. From mean comments, to making anything below an A on an easy assignment. It is okay to make mistakes because that is how you learn. Holding onto bad memories will only cloud your mind and have you thinking you are nothing. With all this going on in your mind, how will you be able to pay attention in class?
Worrying can lead to many things. Depression, anxiety, always thinking somebody is against you, and your mind will never be free from the constant thinking. You don’t want to grow up living your life like that.
You will have enough on your mind to think about anyway. A future college, getting a good job and remembering to do all of the little things in between. There is no time to be overthinking on things that don’t really matter. If you hold onto things at an early age, consequences are it will carry on to become a bigger issue in the future.
I would tell myself this because I notice it happening to me more and more everyday. For example, if I make a bad grade I start to think of all the ways I messed up, instead of focusing on doing better next time. I will spend at least a week, or a few days depending on when the test is, studying hard. When test time comes, I am confident I am going to pass with no problem. Once I get the test in my hand, the material I studied begins to look different from what’s on the paper in front of me. My mind then goes blank and all I can do is start guessing and praying my answers are right. Sometimes, I do pretty good and other times I will do poorly. In times that I score low, I immediately start to think of ways to change my study habits. However, before I actually practice those new habits, I am too overwhelmed by how I even failed in the first place. This continues on until I make a better grade next time. If only I could go back and train my mind to accept and move on from things that I can’t change. Moral of the story is to never be too hard on yourself, no matter what you are doing in life. Just because you messed up one time does not mean that it is the end of the world.
