A look inside the teenage mind

As I sit down to write my column today, I have a lot of things on my mind. As a creative person, there are struggles and I’m sure anyone with a creative side is shaking their head right now. I recently entered in a KSPA contest for student journalist of the year. It is a competition in which you create a portfolio of all your work in writing, photography, design, etc. There are different stages of winning; class, state, and nationals.

I entered not really expecting to win, but to receive feedback and make a place where all my work is located. For my portfolio I created and designed a website to put everything on. This really was a great experience learning how to do that whole process. It was also fun to look back on everything I have done. I did not win anything, as expected, but I did get my feedback, and the judges’ comments left me feeling a little deflated. I feel my perspective of myself and my writing has dropped a few notches in confidence. As a person who is planning to have a career in writing, I’m left in an uneasy state.

Choices of where I want to attend college, what I want to major in, what I want to do with my life are creeping up on me as the end of my junior year is, unfortunately, getting closer. Do I want to major in communications anymore? If a few little comments from a person I don’t even know hit me this hard, am I cut out for this field of work? I understand that I’m not supposed to know what to do and that I am 17 years old, but when all I hear at school is “figure out what you want to do”, it’s hard. I hear about college kids who are physically and mentally exhausted working for a degree that might not even get them a job. And I can barely even make a grilled cheese mind you.

When doubts tiptoe into my mind like a spider and make a nest there, sometimes it’s hard to eradicate them.

As the writer of Horizons, a column meant to show the life of a young adult, I feel I should open the door into the visual of how kids my age feel.

Another thing on my mind is all the changes that are happening in my life. If I looked back at myself as a freshman, I would never have told you I’d be where I am today. I am trying new things and loving them, and closing the book on things I thought I would still be doing.

As we approach the month of March, my mind thinks of Women’s History Month and International Women’s day. Both are incredibly important and are such a wonderful celebration. There are so many strong and empowered women that are setting the example of how women should be perceived by others and how we need to see ourselves.

And then I think of all the women who are suffering. Who don’t have a voice. Who can’t celebrate or are scared to. With the recent news coming out about the human trafficking trade in Florida zipping around the media, it makes me so sad. The trafficking of women and children is the world’s fastest growing crime. And another sad thing is, we don’t even discuss these things at school. I’m not learning about real people’s struggles in today’s world, or how to help solve them.

These are some of the things that have been going through my mind lately. If anyone who ever reads my articles ever wants to give me feedback, good or bad, I encourage you to write to the Free Press.

Written By
More from Maddy Daniels
Autoimmune diseases are complicated
The topic of autoimmune diseases has sparked my interest recently. My mom...
Read More