Seventeen

To the Optimist,

There is a quote that states something like “the people you surround yourself with will shape who you become,”. For me, a big part of who I am today is because of the people I met in High School. I found others that opened my eyes to relentless friendship and moments that would literally make you swing life away. The lack of responsibility was what excited me even though I felt like I deserved all of the responsibility at the same time. This internal struggle as a teenager is not uncommon – rebel, conform, disappoint, appease – over and over until you find ‘yourself’ somewhere in the middle. We spent hours and hours in parking lots, backyards and basements, singing, talking, finding young love, and doing everything we shouldn’t have. All the while not knowing we were building memories that would last us a lifetime. Not knowing that we would look back on these times when we were older and realize how much every second of it meant.

While I was generally a happy person, with lots of potential in academics and in sports, this was my time to push back. Testing boundaries would have been an understatement, but I was still a good kid. The trouble was that I knew it, and I knew how to get away with a lot and I did. I struggled to decide which path I wanted to follow, and often sacrificed my performance in school or at basketball practice to stay up too late drinking at a hockey party. When you’re a narcissistic, insecure teenager, it’s your way or the highway. Luckily I straightened up and started making better decisions, even though it meant less time with friends and more time preparing for the future. Those decisions seemed impossible; go to a party, or rest for the big tournament and study for a test? If I could have told myself then that the decisions were easy. If I could have told myself then that the most important decisions were yet to come, I wouldn’t have believed it.

Love from Winnipeg
Lauren Gavrailoff, T.W.O.