Life is not meant to be lived with sadness. You should not have to feel the never-ending stress and pressure that constantly brings you down. But you still do. No one can escape the stress. The pressure. You’re constantly fighting a battle within yourself. Outside, you look completely fine. People assume that you are because on the outside, everything is okay. But sight is only one of our five senses, a sense people rely on too much. So much, that most of the time people believe it to be the only sense. “If someone looks fine, they are fine.” But that is not the case. This whole time so many thoughts spin around in your head, it’s a never-ending storm of conflict within yourself. And your mind is your enemy. It tells you the ‘do’s’ and ‘dont’s’ and you do them. You have to follow the rules or else you’re broken. And everyone expects so much of you; you can’t do it all. Everyone sets such high expectations, yes? Or is it just you. Setting expectations so high, you can never reach them. And you’re constantly disappointed in yourself, constantly losing the battle within your own mind, worried you’re not good enough. And it seems like you never are. You are so afraid of failure, that you will fail. There’s too many things happening at once. You’re paralyzed.

Emptiness. Sadness. Frustration. You need something, something is missing, but you can’t find it. So you sit there helpless. Inside is a puddle of blood from all the fighting. It seems like nothing can fill the hole inside you. Nothing can make you happy.

Then it hits you. It slaps you so hard, the mark is left on your face. You are you. You are beautiful. There is nothing wrong with you. And throughout this whole time, God has remained with you. He is constantly loving you with all He is, throughout all the hate you had. And love always wins, always wins over hate, and will always be there for you. 

By Kate Ladino ’25, Staff Writer

25kladino@montroseschool.org