PERSONAL ESSAY ~ HONORABLE MENTION by Faith Lynd

PERSONAL ESSAY ~ HONORABLE MENTION

"I Am Me" by Faith Lynd

By the time you're fifteen years old you aren't expected to already know your future; you don't need to know what college you're going to, or what degree you are going to pursue, or if you want to have children. At fifteen you might have an idea of that, but it isn't something that all people already know. But, I often find myself wondering, if at fifteen, you have to know who you are. If you really have to know for a fact who you are in this world. Do you? Looking over what I know about myself, I have come to a simple truth: I am me. You're probably thinking that it doesn't take a wild journey of self-discovery to figure that out, but it is the truth. I am me. I'm not a very good athlete or a great artist. I'm not tall or blonde or brown-eyed. I am a ginger, I'm short, I have blue eyes. Of course, it doesn't take a genius to see this, the things on the outside, but I'm me on the inside too. I tend to overthink, which can hurt or help me depending, I'm sometimes obsessive compulsive, and I'm sometimes insecure. This is me. I'd like to say that I'm self-aware, but the things that I know about myself are not the only things that make me who I am. Me and my life are like a novel, and I'm not even a quarter through.

When you're fifteen you haven't seen enough of life to make a good inference of what its purpose is. You've only just placed your big toe in the sea that is life and you can't yet grasp its meaning. But, when you're fifteen it is possible to have developed some beliefs about what its meaning is. I personally believe that life should be lived, and not watched. You can't just stand on the curb and watch life's traffic pass you by, you need to step into traffic and move with it. If you aren't in the traffic then you aren't living! You aren't doing what you should be doing; you can't stand right on the edge of the street forever, waiting for the right time to jump in. You have

to dive in right away. One thing I also believe about life is that God is there to help you replace a tire if you break down in the middle of the traffic. God is always there to support you and help you fix things. I know it's overused, but it's simply true, God saves. I pray to God and Jesus and I ask them to help me find my way, I beg them to help me get through the rough chapters in life and I think having such a strong Catholic faith helps me.

Sometimes over the course of life your story gets intertwined with someone else's. Even as a fifteen year old this has happened to me countless times. Every time you meet someone they become a part of your story and you become a part of theirs. It's not always about finding that one best friend, a lot of times it's about finding a person or a couple of people that you know will be there, in your life, for more than just a page. It's important, though, to find a person who lets you be you. You are who you are and through my experiences so far I know that if someone doesn't let me be me then they aren't worth even a sentence in the novel of my life.

Again, by the age of fifteen you can't possibly be expected to know what your future is. So, like most fifteen year olds I can't be certain. I have ideas; I want to go to college, I want do something I love and I want to get married to the love of my life and bring more people into this world. But, most importantly, I know that I will be me. That's all I know for certain for my future; I will be me. Because, well, I am me.

This I believe, that I am me and I always will be. Also, I believe that you should live your life, not watch it. These two things are very important to live by, and though sometimes I lack in confidence and sometimes I'm not sure where this road is taking me or how my story ends, I know that someday I will know. I will know what all of this is for, what life's meaning is, and

why I am who I am. So, in the meantime, I will continue to live my life as me. And that's the only thing that, as a fifteen year old, I need to believe.

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