Endings By Grace Sander

Well...

It is over, well almost. I feel as if this school year has flown by. It has been stressful, exciting, and rewarding. I almost think it is funny, my first entry on this blog was late, and my last one is too. So we could say I have really come full circle, gooooooo Grace! But in all seriousness I have grown as a person this school year. I have discovered what is really important to me. As students we think that all that matters at this point is our grades. Yes they are important, and we should always strive to do our absolute best. However, it doesn't always work out the way we want. That sometimes it doesn't matter how many flashcards you make, lunches you spend getting extra help, or sleepless nights spent studying, sometimes it still isn't enough. So the stress and panic continues until we have hit rock bottom and either sob hysterically or just throw the book at the wall, sometimes both *cough* me *cough*. What was I trying to say? Oh yeah, what is really important to me. I have learned that grades and awards and all of that will not matter once we leave high school. That at the end of the day, nobody will remember a failed math test. Yes they will remember if you failed the quarter but it doesn't mean that your life is over or that it defines you for the next chapter of life. As teenagers we think that our identity and achievements have to exist or be appreciated inside the concrete walls of our high school to matter, through announcements made in the morning or chatter of our classmates  but it doesn't have to. Every day we accomplish something, getting out of bed yes! Way to go! Getting a B on a paper that you worked for hours and hours on, you rock! You became a nuclear physicist, that is amazing!!!! what is that? But the biggest accomplishment of all, is not tangible, it is something that no matter who you are and where you come from you can achieve. Finding a purpose. Chances are it is not in front of you, that it is up to you to go out there and be brave enough to look for it. It will come when you least expect it, when you need it most. It is going to be so amazing that you will just break down in a chair, in the car, at a concert, on the toilet maybe no judgement, and cry with happiness because you found your purpose. It will hit you that who you were in middle school, high school, maybe even college does not matter, is not nearly as significant or meaningful as who you are in that moment. That is what is important. So let us get through finals, get through the next few weeks, the next few years and celebrate. Celebrate all the awful, terrible grades because we all have them. Celebrate about the fantastic essays and halfway decent math tests. Celebrate that you made it another year regardless of how it went, and that you are not finished at school or in life. Please, join me in a toast, raise your water, the pen in your hand, or really anything that is next to you, go ahead I will wait....to celebrate each and every one of you waking up every morning for the rest of your life to go out there and find who or what sets your soul on fire, to find your purpose
                                                      Cheers, Grace