Keep your perspective keen

High school has always been filled with ups and downs. People always said when I was younger that being a teenager is like a rollercoaster, but high school really has showed me how fast and how often you can cycle through emotions, and how hard it is sometimes to have a long-term mentality and not get caught up in the moment.

Everyone in high school goes through times of excitement, sadness, nervousness, and confusion. They are so many new things to do and new people to meet throughout the high school experience and those all change our emotions almost by the day it seems like. I, along with probably most students, was not very good at managing all the incoming responsibilities and stress that comes with preparing for the transition into adulthood and independence. I always tended to be too worried and focused on the current responsibilities I had and things I needed to do instead of realizing that it is all part of a big picture, and that is completely okay if not everything works out perfectly all the time.

Being a sports writer has taught me these exact same values about looking forward and not always getting too stressed about the current moment. As a bay area sports fan who followed the 49ers, Giants, Warriors, A’s, and Raiders over the past couple years, I have definitely witnessed a large amount of ups and downs in sports as well, and it showed me the same lesson.

From watching the 49ers go from super bowl favorites to the bottom feeders of the league within a couple years, the Warriors who struggled for almost a decade now entering their third straight NBA finals appearance, and the Raiders who were seen as one of the laughing stocks of the league transform into one of the most dangerous teams in the league.  I have seen some very exciting ups, and definitely some very saddening downs as well, just like in high school as well.

Both high school and being a sports writer really taught me that lesson. The low points will never always be so low, and the high points will not always be so high, that is why it is so necessary to look at life as a whole and not obsess over small, singular things, to keep your perspective keen and keep control of your emotions.