Struggling Student,

It is no secret that you are going through a hard time. Although I cannot fully understand the complexities of your situation, based on my own experiences in high school, I can imagine what you might be feeling. This time in your life is not what everyone promised it would be. Many people have claimed that high school would be the best four years of your life, and that when you look back as you grow older, you will miss it. For many students this might be true, but you can’t wait to graduate. For whatever reason, high school has become a battle ground for you. This could mean facing bullies, or trying to stay focused in class as your home life is in shambles. This could mean being stressed, as the pile of unfinished homework keeps growing just like your grip on the situation around you keeps slipping.

As your peers begin to feel nostalgic about the time that is passing, you can’t seem to find the light at the end of the tunnel. The years aren’t flying by fast enough for you, and despite what they say, things aren’t getting better. You’re beginning to believe that they never will. The hardships that you are facing makes everything harder to deal with, even if it’s just getting out of bed in the morning. Because of all of this you sometimes think that you can’t handle it anymore, and that there is only one way out. I am here to tell you that you are wrong.

You are about to begin your life, and although high school is terrible now, the pain you are feeling will not compare to the joy that awaits you after graduation. After you leave high school you will become more independent and free, and you’ll be able to live your life the way that you want. You will start to meet wonderful people. You will ask yourself how people so much like you could exist without you knowing, and you will be grateful that you stuck around long enough to meet them. You will begin to expand your interests and your personality, as you will face an even greater period of change than high school. There will be opportunities and experiences that you could not have imagined in high school, and you will be happier. I know that these joys sound so far away, but they will come faster than you know it.

As for now, find joy in using your problems to become stronger. Your problems will not last forever, but while they do you can use them. Your time in high school is giving you a unique chance to begin to learn how to overcome adversity. By the time you graduate you will be a master at facing problems and walking away from them stronger. Do not underestimate this ability. Many of your peers who are not going through what you are will struggle to accept defeat and begin anew in the future, but you will already know that you have faced the worst and survived it. I am not saying that you will never face adversity again, but new issues will not phase you as you grow older. You will have overcome the worst that those four years could have thrown at you, and you will use that strength to overcome whatever else life has in store. Before you know it you will graduate and begin your journey into a great life, and your time in high school will become a distant memory. Do not give up. Your joy is waiting for you, do not let it slip away. You are meant to triumph, and triumph you will. I am rooting for you.

Sincerely,

Someone who has been there, I promise.