As the stress of AP classes and standardized tests start becoming more and more apparent, it is very easy to start giving up. This may sound like the beginning of a very cliche blog post, but this week I decided to just let my thoughts go and write whatever came to mind. I know a lot of people think that I "never need to study", and am just "naturally smart". Frankly, this is not true at all. There are things like your IQ and other numbers that us humans use to define intelligence, but I think that, at least in high school, they don't really amount to much. What matters the most to me is your mindset. We live in a time where people are dropping phrases like "I want to kill myself" and "I hate my life" left and right just for laughs and memes, and for most people, it is socially acceptable. Over the past couple months, I have noticed this in many of my friends too. This is where the heart of the issue lies. I will admit that these phrases will occasionally slip out of my mouth as well, but for the most part, I think that I am relatively free of these words and thoughts.
I've noticed that these phrases become especially apparent before important tests, like the SAT or an English test. I do realize that sometimes people truly mean these things, but I am talking about the population that say it just because. Even though one may not mean anything by it, words like this deeply affect how one thinks and feels. I've noticed myself that on days that I stay positive and optimistic, despite all the high school pressures, I actually do feel much better both physically and emotionally. If I could give one piece of advice that others would take seriously, it would be to stay positive and don't let negative thoughts cloud your mind, whether intentionally or not. Through personal experience, once you start adapting this new mindset, the results will clearly show up on your grades and other scores, even if you don't consider yourself "smart".
To relate this post to something we learned this week, it is that this is somewhat similar to how Corinthians felt. She had "no ambition, no hunger, no hustle", and that ultimately resulted in her dull and uneventful life. This is related to your mindset in the sense that if you think that you are dumb and don't try to do anything to change it, then that's exactly how it is going to be.
If you have managed to read all the way to the end of this post, good job! I realize that this is definitely not the Edison that you guys know, but I just felt like there was some stuff I wanted to get out. Hopefully next week will be back to the regular posts!
I wrote on that same quote as last week and I think my post reflected some of "I wanna kill myself". Due to the standards of society is just getting higher and higher, all of us are trying to make a standing on this bloody battle field called Troy High. High school is a one way ticket from the beginning to the end, majority of us are going through what you are going through right now and all we can do is to endure this pressure since there are no calling quits. Painful as it sounds we all have to go through this stress conditioning to prepare what's after high school. Honestly, Wallace was probably tired of this too then he made the speech because this pressure can drive someone nuts.(and probably drove him nuts too)
ReplyDeleteI like how you still managed to relate this to the book. It's nice to see at least one person out there with a positive mindset. I think we should all try to be optimistic like you said, but I admit, it's really hard sometimes.
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