By Emma Cummins
Editorial Page Editor
You take a deep breath, close your eyes and hope the day goes by quickly; going to school never seemed so impossible before.
As teenagers, we are constantly making mistakes. These mistakes, for some, seem to be defining. A mistake, however grievous, can be life changing, but in what way? I think teenagers, or really anyone, have the chance to choose not to have a mistake define them, but change their life in a positive way.
Mistakes can be anything; underage drinking, cheating or any activity that strays from your moral compass. But these types of mistakes are what make us human. It is only when one continues making this mistake, that the mistake becomes a conscious decision. Mistakes are only useful if we learn from them.
I can attest to this fact, not only can a mistake help you grow, it is vital to being a teenager. In my 17 years, I have made mistakes, some worse than others. But in the long run, I can now see how my mistakes have given me lessons that I may not have received in time.
Rather than going to school, having to face your friends and how they might judge you, curling up into a ball in your bed and never leaving seems to be the best option. In reality, you are probably your harshest critic, and school is just school, not a contest.
Looking back on my mistakes now, I can see how valuable it was to have certain mistakes happen during high school, when I had the support of my family and friends. In college, or any time after, the outcome may have been different.
As teenagers, we have a little bit of wiggle room when it comes to our consequences. Not to say that we should make mistakes for the heck of it, or because there will not be any consequences as severe, but keep in mind that after we do make a mistake, the mistake is not as serious as we may make it.
As a junior at Coppell High School, it feels that everything is changing. Kids can drive, make more decisions, as well as more mistakes. Being one of those teenagers, the pressure to not fall into the inevitable path of cliché mistakes, is coming to an apex.
I think that for many teenagers, including myself, we think one mistake makes us a bad person, and sets us in a class that is separate and unequal to those who have not made the same mistake. This kind of thinking can to be toxic and damaging to teenagers, especially when we are just learning about ourselves and how to deal with the world around us.
While we may not be able to control how our parents react, or our friends, we can control how we react. A mistake does not change a person, like I mentioned before, a mistake only begins to change us once we let it become habitual.
An error or lapse in judgement is not life ending, although it may in the moment seem to be. Whatever the mistake, remember that your person is separate from those mistakes, and can move on and make better decisions in the future. Mistakes are a healthy part of life, however cliché it may sound.
