Assignment 24- Katie Demos

It's no secret that I'm incredibly anti-junior year. My friends, and really, anyone within earshot of my daily complaining, knows that I'm quick to call junior year the worst year of my life. First semester, I really had a lot of hope for the year, thinking that not only I would be able to handle everything, but that I would prosper and look back with a sense of fondness and security. Yet of course, I should've known that rarely do things actually go to plan, and that junior year would be no exception.

Junior year has really broken me in a lot of ways. That sounds super dramatic, but honestly, from the lack of constant and regulated sleep to the mentally-destroying pressure and stress I endure daily, I don't feel like I'm overstepping when I say that this year has been absolutely awful in many ways. 

But I would be incredibly shallow and naive to imply that junior year has been all curses and no blessings. I've learned a lot, both from textbooks and from myself. Junior year has brought me closer to finding out who I am and what I can handle. It's forced me to step back and ask myself what really makes me happy, and what I'm doing just to impress others. 

Senior year is going to be a time for me to build on the lessons I've learned while also seeing what I can offer the world. I know there are many places where I still lack maturity, and I've seen those reflected in the ways I've acted and spoken this year when I'm under pressure. I'm ready to change that. I hope that I can rebuild a life for myself that I love this summer, one that I know others will appreciate as well.