One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned this year is that no amount of preparation guarantees things will go as planned. You can do everything “right” and still face setbacks. What matters more is how you respond when things don’t go the way you expected.

I came into senior year with a vision of how the year would unfold. What I would accomplish, and how everything would come together before graduation. I had spent so much time thinking ahead that I forgot how unpredictable life can be.

It is disorienting. When you plan carefully and still watch things fall apart, it’s easy to feel like you’ve lost your footing. I kept asking myself what I could have done differently, even when so much of it was out of my control.

At some point, someone told me “just remember to breathe and remember there are things you can and can’t control so focus on the things you can control right now”

It sounds simple. Almost cliché. I was reminded that there are things I can control, and things I can’t. But I can control how I show up, how I process failure, and how I move forward in moments where everything feels heavy. 

Senior year hasn’t looked the way I imagined, but maybe that’s the lesson. Growth doesn’t always come from momentum or success. Sometimes it comes from being comfortable with the feeling of uncertainty, adjusting and readjusting expectations, and learning how to move forward anyway.