The same folks everyday walk in casually at 7:21 and face that foreboding podium.  The same students wander wearily down the same hallways, bored over the same sphere of influence, all trapped under the same rock known begrudgingly as “expectations.”

So often do people walk down paths that were laid out by others.  People succumb daily to the pressures of their parents, their friends, their coaches, and fellow athletes, and are affected too easily and too greatly by the expectations of these daily influences.

Where and when did we forget that we have to “seize the day”?  Not long ago the popular and overused phrase “YOLO” was the center of attention, and now everyone lives not like they will only live once, but rather like they’ll tend to their own desires at a later date.  Time is wasting.

Why is it that student athletes seldom audition for the drama club?  Why don’t drama club stars go out for sports?  Of course, in some cases personal interest survives, but certainly more often than not people are afraid to step out of their own zone of comfortability.  Almost everyone has regret about an opportunity they missed during high school.

When a person does a sport for a year or two, that person becomes quite accustomed to that social setting.  And, to be fair, it takes time to warm up to people and develop bonds and relationships, so it can be very taxing to work up the courage to go through the introduction process several times throughout one’s high school career.  But it’s narrow-minded to think that social comfort can be sustained endlessly; sooner or later everything will change so that introductions will again be in order.  So why not follow a vague interest into social battle?

People believe themselves to be under constant surveillance by everyone else, but the reality is that people just aren’t that interesting.  Despite that reality, students still fear their imaginary audience, and let that fear dictate their decisions and surroundings, all to rest easy the dreaded thought of “what my friends might think.” Sometimes all it takes for someone to give something new a chance is social acceptance, the support of a friend at the idea of stepping out of a comfort zone.

Along with the influences of a friend group, the fear of failure looms over many great ideas.  It’s no secret that it can be embarrassing to be unsuccessful, and when this is played out in a memory, no matter how distant it is, say even mediocrity at tee-ball, that fear of history repeating itself can easily defeat a private wish at uncharted territory; however, even with a lack of noteworthy success at an attempt at something new, there are still some serious redeeming qualities.  You don’t have to be a star basketball player to be on the team and make friends. Even if your attempt at something is so absolutely mediocre that you never want to try again, you’ve just learned that say for instance, skydiving, isn’t for you.  It’s important to have a willingness to accept failure, for out of failure is borne invention and perseverance.

The need to be accepted into prestigious colleges goads students to, often unnecessarily, stack AP classes to create an image of the “ideal student.”  When in reality, the ideal student is one who is deeply passionate about a carefully selected few topics.  There are plenty of hard-workers applying to colleges from Massachusetts, having individuality is just as, if not more than, important as being hardworking. What do students do when they overwork themselves as a need to fit in?  They juul in the bathrooms and drink on weekends—yet another prize of conformity—drunken stupors and juul buzzes, to cope.  Generations of students stumbling out of BHS dazed and confused.

Sometimes it isn’t just conformity that limits the individual, but also financial circumstances.  A parent’s bank account shouldn’t limit a student athlete’s ability to go out for a new sport, but hockey equipment is expensive.  And even though the school’s “Free Or Reduced Lunch” program helps families cover the costs of athletic fees and AP exams, these fees are not eliminated entirely, so that some type of payment for these fees is always necessary, although it isn’t always possible.

The individual is being murdered by societal pressures among other things, and with that death will go that individual’s opinions, interests, and secret desires, and this is all realized far too late.

All the while these pressures are great in number, the school condemns for lack of school spirit.  When students are encouraged to find what it is that they are most passionate about, whether that’s a club, a sport, or anything, a fire is lit.  That fire could easily let grow a passion and pride to be a Barnstable Red Raider, but instead, those sentiments are forced upon students.

Interests and passions during adolescence need nurturing and support, but where social and societal structures deny these fundamental gifts, the individual has a duty to sustain those passions and desires.  So keep wary of the unconscious pressures surrounding us all, and don’t lose your will to be your own person, it’s a cliche that will surely pay off in time.