Gracelyn Hess 10 is a very positive person and a great friend. She is very involved in the school, and always brings a smile to whatever it is she does. However, even with all of this she has to deal with a great deal of anxiety. Gracelyn pushes through this though, and maintains a positive headspace, trying to make everyone’s day a little bit better.

“I definitely want to be someone that can make others happy, and always be a top student. I’m really trying to be successful, but the amount of effort it takes in putting into that is really stressful. By that, I mean sometimes I play through the day and whenever I could’ve shown any negativity or if I talked in class when I wasn’t supposed to I feel really bad about that because I worry about what other people think. I usually don’t physically care what other people think, but I do emotionally because I want people to look at me and see a pretty positive person so the amount of anxiety that it takes to put into that, ‘what are they thinking?’ ‘should I apologize?’ is really stressful. My parents have always taught me to worry about it because the world doesn’t revolve around you, so it’s not like what you do will make a big impact on too many people. Like if you talk in class, but in reality I just get a little stressed out. My anxiety pushes me to really check what I’m going to say and sometimes my anxiety can make me feel a little negative, but when I go back and rethink it it’s like okay I’m glad I feel bad about this, it means I have a conscience. I would still keep a little bit of the anxiety because it keeps me at a good state of mind, and really pushes me to be the best person I can be. Whereas without anxiety you can’t change, and that’s all part of growing up. Yeah, sometimes I wish I could live in a world with no anxiety, but sometimes anxiety’s good. But I definitely want a little more free willed. Try to look on the bright side because there’s a brighter view there. It’s good to always think positive because if you have negativity in your life what’s it going to do? It’s never give up because even though times are hard, you just have to keep going and then you’ll succeed in the end. I’m gonna reference Lion King because I love it so much. ‘The past can hurt, but the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it.’”