Scores do not define you.

This is a concept that was extremely difficult for me to grasp. I upheld my self confidence through letters. An "A" defined acceptance and any other letter beyond the alphabet was not.

Throughout high school, I thought it was better to sacrifice sleep and friends for a pleasing transcript. Like they said, "sleep is temporary, GPA is forever." How ridiculous.

And yet, despite how successful I have been academically, I was never that confident in myself. For the longest time, I pushed myself to be like my peers who succeeded in everything and every class. I was my greatest critique and for the past three years, the fuel that kept me going in those endless nights and multitudes of textbooks died out.

So here I am, independent studying how to take care of myself. Allotting more time to have fun by splurging on boba, sleeping more and doing my homework in class (this is probably just a "senioritis" thing), going to church on Sundays, and more importantly finding out the things that I like. With my closest friends and my family as my teacher, I think I am slowly getting there. I get no grade for taking care of myself, but I definitely get an A for accepting myself and for doing the best that I can.