Elaine+S’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2017

Too many of us are perfectionists Too many of us are under much more stress than any kid should have to deal with Too many of us pressure ourselves beyond what is necessary

First I want to share a poem I wrote One that has never been heard by ears besides my own One that was written in the midst of a turmoil

I’m stuck in my ways I feel trapped in a cage How can I get out? Or must I wait it out?

The energy of the world seems to pull at my bones But I sit here helpless Only throwing sticks and stones

I’m trying to break free But something keeps telling me   That I can’t succeed

As the darkness falls I can only hope it passes For my mind wraps around it   As it offloads its gases

I try to hold hope But i know I will choke Why must I be this way? Why can’t I be okay?

I’m trying to break free But something keeps telling me   That I can’t succeed

Now that I’ve started I can never be satisfied It’s like all of my happiness has been marked as classified

Nothing seems fair No one seems to care Why can’t I see? Why can’t I be me?

I’m trying to break free But something keeps telling me   That I can’t succeed

This poem was written in the middle of Junior year And I am sure it pretty accurately sums up how a lot of us felt

But this is what happens as we grow up   We have to learn to deal with stresses: Societal pressures Parental pressures And maybe the worst of all, Internal pressures

I keep an open mind about every person I meet I try to be kind and fair in all situations I try to treat others how I would like to be treated

But for some reason, I can’t be kind to myself

There seems to be two voices in my head: One of hope One of failure

I don’t have a “hard life” I didn’t have a rough start I was born with my brain I was born with my thoughts

I love my mind, don’t get me wrong I would never trade it for world The good and the bad make me who I am   You need dark to contrast with light

Its when the hope and the failure get out of balance That's when the pain begins

The voice of hope encourages you to take that leap To make a move without doubts To try and reach the stars

This is all great and wonderful Until you’ve gained too much confidence And you crash and burn, hard

Then the failure voice kicks in   Its seems to swallow you up    And spit you out

You ridicule yourself You punish yourself You submit to your own self conscious

And every time you want to take a jump Your failure voice reminds you of the pain you went through the last time you made a mistake

It is not a good feeling.

We need to learn the balance So we don’t end up being are our own worst enemy

And before we can ever be truly kind to others We must be truly kind to ourselves

This is the world I want to grow old in, One in which people love themselves

Loving yourself allows you to feel free, And you are able to experience life to the fullest You become your genuine self because you are comfortable in your own skin And you become confident and capable

This is something that school can never teach you This is something that your parents can never teach you Learning to love yourself is only something you can teach you.

So why not start now?

I want everyone here to go home and look yourself in the mirror and say “Damn you look hot!” I want everyone here to compliment yourself every time you start to feel insecure I want everyone here to find a passion and run with it, no matter what the failure voice tells you

I want you to be a friend to yourself, scratch that I want you to be a best friend to yourself

I have lived with myself for seventeen years Now I am trying to learn to love myself

So I say these verses of Believer by Imagine Dragons to myself when my failure voice tries to drag me down: First things first, Ima say all the words inside my head Im fired up and tired of the way that things have been Second things second, Don’t you tell me what you think I can be   I’m the one at the sail, I’m the master of my sea