My coach once told me, “You have to capitalize on the good days.” As human beings, we are so much more likely to focus on our failures, mistakes and bad days, and forget that it’s okay to be proud of ourselves for the better days, the accomplishments.
I run as my sport — it’s grueling, it’s painful and most of all, it’s inconsistent. In order to be successful, I’ve had to learn how to push through the bad days and use them as motivation — but more importantly, to use the good days as reminders that those bad days don’t define me. The other day, I raced an extremely challenging race and didn’t perform at all close to how I wanted to. I was so disappointed in myself, and I thought the race defined where I was at as a runner: I wasn’t good at my sport, I couldn’t succeed. But the next morning, I reminded myself of the race I had the week before; I felt smooth and comfortable on the track, I led the race and I finished with a huge personal record.
In terms of academics, I have always held myself to a high standard. Getting a bad grade on one test would drown out the pride I had felt at acing another test. It has been a constant cycle of putting myself down for the bad grades, when I should’ve been using those to find ways to improve, while still being proud of myself for the work I’ve put in to earn the good grades as well. Sometimes it feels like a bad grade can truly define you as student, but I’ve learned that the better grades are more representative of the time spent studying and the dedication to classes — and it is far more important to feel the pride of those than the disappointment of a lesser grade.
What I have learned throughout high school is the importance of capitalizing on the good days — on the good things in life, on the things that make you happy and the things you should be proud of. “Capitalizing on the good days” can apply to so many parts of your life, especially in the ever-changing and truly chaotic phases of high school. In the end, I can now look back and remember the good days while smiling, and think of my high school experience through a positive light. Sure, there were bad days here and there, but it was the good days that really defined these last four years of my life.