5. Grades.
Need I say more? It is unfathomable just how much mental health plummets amongst students when considering the dreaded pressure of grades. Each level of education they pass only has them place further emphasis on a few numbers on paper– or these days, a screen. I don’t believe I speak only for myself when I say that school has taken away any love I may have had to learn. Passions are lost in place of academic security. Memorization is prioritized over comprehension. I’m not saying that grades should be disregarded completely, nor am I proposing a better education system. I am merely a voice amongst millions crying out for a breath of air beneath the overbearing presence of grades looming over us. From holding back tears on the bus home to having breakdowns in the bathroom, grades have no right having as much weight as they do on our backs (literally, my posture is horrible…).
4. Money.
Taxes. Jobs. Bills. Debt. The value humans have placed on flimsy slips of paper is unmatched and controls lives just as much as it ruins them. The way money changes people is like handing someone a regular old notebook only to discover it’s actually a Death Note. Not too sure if Adam Smith was onto something or on something when he introduced the concept of the invisible hand. Citizens working to pursue their self interest in a free market economy? Check. For the benefit of society as a whole? Debatable. People spend their lives chasing after money and still end up desolate and miserable working 9-5s or worse, meanwhile others are born into it and it instead warps their perspective on reality and normalcy. No, Jessica, not everyone has enough money for a yearly vacation.
3. Judgement.
Almost every young adult’s worst fear. Online or offline, everyone is subjected to the harrowing concept for social perception. It looms even more with the use of social media, where people base their worth off of likes, follows, and comparisons to photoshopped Instagram models. Everywhere you walk there are potential eyes on you. Judgement itself is not the social construct, but more so the reason behind such worries. Social standards and norms regarding how people should act or look are the shackles holding us back from being our true selves in public. Afraid to laugh too loud, worried their outfit is too extravagant, or just being embarrassed for mentioning something that was “so last year”– to be cringe is to be free.
2. Time.
Everything is relative. Time is relative. But by Jove, there is never enough of it. Life is too short to constantly worry about just how short it is, but here we are. For one thing, age milestones are a nightmare. What age does society expect you to get married and have kids? When are you supposed to have that life-changing moment that you can claim as your “prime”? Minutes, hours, days, years are wasted away doing things that we need to do rather than what we want. Time is a source of stress in so many aspects, whether something is done at 11:59pm or mid-life crises. A flurry of “I’ll do it later”s and next thing you know there’s been a project placed in the back of your mind for the past 5 years. Where does this time go and why is it so ruthlessly taken from us? We are unable to live in the present because we are either preoccupied with the past or the future. Grand Master Oogway says that today is a gift, but regretfully I must admit that is a present I have yet to open.
1. Government.
Should I start? Or will this get taken down too?