I'm only 17 years old. I'm just a junior girl in high school. Yet I feel like I have dealt with so many hardships and obstacles throughout my first semester of junior year. I started out my junior year as my old self: a shy and scared girl. I didn't realize how much I would change within a small span of time. But I did.

Once my third year of high school started, I became more bold and confident. I also became stressed and worried. In fact, there were times when I was overwhelmed with stress. But it wasn't uncommon. Many of my friends have talked to me about how stressed they are about taking the SATs in addition to starting to worry about colleges. Some of them have even confessed that they were so stressed, they began to cry. Hearing this made my heart feel heavy.

I hope that all of the hardships everyone faces in high school eventually become worth the struggle. I hope everyone will have their own perfect future.

To me, my perfect future would be me getting into my perfect college and meet the perfect people. I've always imagined myself getting two dogs when I graduate college. I sometimes picture the perfect house where I would live with my dogs and maybe even settle in with my future family. I hope by then I would have met a guy who loves me for me and who doesn't make me question myself — someone who doesn't make me feel insecure about myself but instead raises my self-esteem. I can only hope for a successful, stable job while still keeping in touch with my close high school friends. High school may be tough now, but there are certain people that I do hope to keep around in my life.

But there are also things that I do wish to leave behind and never turn back.

Right now, in high school, I've learned that there are many people who have lost their way after their junior year. I've discovered that many people I thought I knew turned out to be the exact opposite. To be frank, I'm disappointed. People have changed in various bad ways and because of that, I really do hope that I will never lose my morality after junior year. I don't want to lose sight of who I am.

Right now, I pass time by imagining my perfect future in order to get through the difficulties and hardships I deal with right now. I face the consequences of my bold actions and now, I have to become patient for the final outcome to arrive. I have to admit: taking those risks were thrilling. I don't really regret it. If I haven't done it, I wouldn't be so close to my goal right now. Of course, the reason as to why I've always avoided taking risks in the past was the fear of getting humiliated, which is basically what I'm feeling right now. But the feeling of embarrassment is only temporary. It's not like I'll be embarrassed forever. I'll eventually move on. Just like how I'll move on from my various other types of obstacles. There may be times when I do hit rock bottom, but there are also times when I feel as if I'm at the very top.

Regardless of whatever happens, I'll never regret my past decisions and keep looking towards the future, with hope, and at times, hopelessly.