Like many other high school students around the world, I have spent countless nights drowning in homework and surrounded by stress. I know what it is like to feel overwhelmed, but it disappoints me that many people choose to complain about these adverse situations. During the school day, I don’t feel the pressures of a loaded workload, but the stress tends to hit me when I am at home at night trying to determine where to dedicate my time. When I feel stress and pressure at night, the adversity does not bring me down, but rather fuels me to want to conquer these obstacles that stand in my way from achieving success. This positive attitude is what guides me towards stress.
It seems as if everyone out there is complaining about feeling stressed out every night over college applications, school and extracurricular activities, but I don’t believe stress is something that should be feared. I look forward to dealing with adversity at night because I know that I can conquer anything that life throws my way. There is no greater feeling than going to bed every night knowing that you have successfully accomplished a goal.
When I am sitting alone at night, I think about those who have succeeded under the worst conditions. I have heard countless tales of remarkable people and their journies for survival. Whether it be young Elie Wiesel in the novel “Night,” the Native Americans who traveled down the Trail of Tears or the countless number of Syrian refugees fleeing for their lives today, people throughout history have been faced with much greater obstacles compared to the stress related to high school students. These people did not have a choice to give up and overcame the world’s worst conditions in order to survive. They did not have the chance to stop and complain about their lives being too hard and their incredible will to persevere tells me that if they could conquer their obstacles, then so can I.
I have been overcome with fear on many occasions at night wondering what the future has in store for me. In life, there are no guarantees. I know that I am not the only person on this planet who has aspirations, but not a single one of these goals can be met without facing some sort of obstacle along the way. As an athlete, many of my coaches have told me that “someplace, somewhere, someone else is working harder than you.” Every person will face stress in their lifetime, but it’s a choice to let stress affect you or not. The key to overcoming stress is to transform the pressure into a positive motivation.
I feel as if I am put in a ring for a boxing match against life every night. Life will always be the favorite to win, but the greatest advantage that I have in this fight is the spirit of being the underdog. Even though life is stronger, taller and can punch harder, I will always have the greatest will to win.