Everyone is afraid of something. Some are afraid of spiders, others of clowns. Many are scared shitless of heights, and to some, the very thought of crowded spaces puts them off. I, on the other hand, am scared of something much less tangible.

I´m terrified of oblivion. I´m afraid that one day, nobody will remember me at all and that everything I´ve ever done will just fade away, lost forever. No one will recall my existence in the slightest. I know, it´s very ´The Fault in Our Stars´-Esque, but it´s a surprisingly common fear.

Now, I know oblivion is inevitable; Nothing was ever made to last. One day, there will be no humans left to remember any of us. Mankind will ultimately die out and the triumphs of even the most influential people will eventually be gone. In the words of John Green himself, ¨Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught.¨

I want to be something that nobody, as long as humanity is still here, could possibly forget. I long to be like Martin Luther King Jr, or Marilyn Monroe, or Alexander Hamilton. I want to make a change. It may just be the dramatic side of me, but I´ve always felt the need to have my story told. A hundred years down the road, I want people to still remember my name and to be able to tell their grandchildren about me. I want my legacy to pass from generation to generation and to be scribbled down into books and, someday, I want somebody to feel influenced by my actions.

I´m not writing this to be a downer. Rather, I write this to inspire. That´s all I´ve ever wanted to do. Everybody wants their life to have meaning. For me, I want to be able to encourage those who follow me. I want to spark great things in people. Some of us are complacent being in the ensemble, and that is perfectly okay. But for those of us who dream big and tend to reach for the stars and hate the thought of being lost in history like myself, I write this for you.

The truth is that every single person you meet is a part of something. We, as individuals, are each a piece of one great big puzzle that will shape the future; Everybody fits in somewhere. In our current society, many young adults feel like they´re not important. They feel as if they´ll never be good enough due to ridiculously unrealistic beauty standards, violent discrimination, and even some of our elected officials (I´m looking at you, Donald). But I want to remind every one of you that you are important to somebody.

Oblivion may be inevitable, but I know I sure as hell will make the best of my time and hope for the best. I strive to live a life worth passing on.