As the school year winds down to a close and my high school career comes to an end I am sad (kind of happy) to announce that this will be my last ever column. I know, I know all you avid column readers are going to miss my extremely wise words and intense opinions but all good things must come to an end. Before we go into the topic of this very last column I would like to say I am extremely grateful for the PCM Journalism program, this was a class I was hesitant to take but I am so glad I did. It may not always be sunshine and rainbows but it has brought me so many amazing memories with some pretty amazing people. Not to mention the countless opportunities I’ve had in this class, I am able to express myself creatively through writing and getting to publish articles like the ones I have throughout my journalism career is not something a lot of people get the privilege to do. 

Today I want to talk about life. As we juggle school, jobs, sports, extracurriculars, families and relationships we can often get caught up in the negatives of life. Wishing we had things differently, wanting more time, more money, more this, more that. Now I get it, day to day life can get extremely stressful and you just feel stuck but you have to make the absolute most of your short time on this earth. Not everyone gets the amount of time they deserve on earth, you never know what could happen so stop stressing over the smallest things in life and learn to find optimism during those times. I’m not perfect at this either. It can be hard to look at the bright side but for instance as I am writing this column I am exhausted from a long, late night at work that I have to relive tonight. I could sit here and dwell on it and ruin my entire day by only thinking about how stressful it will be or I could look at it in a different light. I can be productive for the first half of my day and then when I get to work I get to socialize with so many different people and help them to make their day maybe just a little bit better. Wake up each morning and think of all the amazing things you have to be grateful for no matter how big or small. Let go of the negative and focus on the positive.

This may not seem like a huge change and it can be a hard one I know but doing this will help you to look at life in a different perspective. Throughout this past year I have lost a few very important people in my life and there are so many things I wish I told them or wish I did. Don’t look at your past wishing you would’ve done something, do it. Tell your people you love them, tell that person you haven’t spoken to in while that you miss them. Go out and make that change you’ve been waiting for. If you don’t prioritize yourself and your wants and needs in life, who will?