Author: ackley4167

Instagram

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Lately, I’ve noticed how much Instagram and social media are part of everyday life at school. Many of my friends are trying to build their pages and grow their followings. They spend a lot of time choosing the right photos, editing them, and posting at certain times.

It’s interesting to watch because it almost feels like everyone is learning how social media works. At the same time, they’re still in high school. Some people post reels, follow trends, and even help each other by liking and sharing posts to boost engagement. A few of my friends even talk about becoming influencers someday.

At the same time, social media can change how people see things. Sometimes it feels like people care a lot about how moments look online, not just how they actually are. Instagram isn’t just an app anymore; it’s become a big part of how people connect and present their lives. Especially when it comes to college. That is everybody’s first impression of you and who you are.

“Instagram Socialmedia” by Freestocks.org/ CC0 1.0

When Stress Becomes a Personality

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Since school has started, I’ve felt nothing but stress and pressure, and all I want is a break. It seems like the breaks school gives us are never long enough. It always feels like dread. Having to get home from school at 5 pm. Then worry about having to do homework, take a shower, and eat dinner. It all becomes a routine. A routine that feels weird not to do, like on Fridays. To me, the weekend is only one day. Friday we have school, but still the best day of the “weekend”. Saturdays are our only full day without having to worry about anything except dreading Sunday. And Sunday is the worst day of the week. The defeat of realizing that the weekend is over. Having to repeat that whole routine that you just got a 2-day break from. Then on Monday, the whole process repeats. You’re stressing about assignments that are due. Your stress is making you treat others poorly, but there’s nothing you can do except follow that routine. You want to try to balance a social life while being good at school, so you try, and you fail. You pick being social over studying, and the next day you bomb your exam. Now you don’t want to be social. You want to study, but you have FOMO about your friends and what they could be doing. It feels like nothing is enough. Weekends are the time to socialize, but why do we only have a day? It feels like my life is repeating itself over and over again, and there’s no escape.

PC: Google

Waterproof Mascara

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I think that waterproof mascara has completely ruined my lashes. I’ve been mourning my lashes before I started using waterproof and they were just to their fullest. They were full, long, and double lined. Now their thin and t looks like I’m balding on my lash line.

Well maybe not quite, but it’s definitely not what i am used to. Although I do really love waterproof since it was one of the only mascaras that helped my lashes stay up. I need a very long break from it.

Also taking off waterproof mascara after a long night or day, even if you have makeup remover, it takes forever. It feels like I’m scrubbing my eyes for a solid 20 minutes before its even remotely off. I feel like waterproof mascara is liked by many people but no one talks about how it has bad effects. I honestly think it just thins out your lashes to a point where they break.

So if you’re reading this and your thinking about using waterproof mascara please put your lashes first. You do not wanna deal with your natural lashes looking awful even after a regular curl.

Yes it has a positive side but the negative effects of it completely take over. Yeah they stay up but is it worth the breakage? Its really not and I would throw away every waterproof mascara if I could to get my old lashes back.

I’m the type of person that always has to take their makeup off. It doesn’t matter the occasion or where we are. Before I go to bed I must take off my makeup, so if you are that person. Do not get waterproof mascara.

“Brush Makeup” by kinkate/ CC0 1.0

Social Media

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Every day, I have to remind myself that what I see on social media isn’t reality. I believe that our brains weren’t made to process so many opinions from different people. Negative comments about someone or something can affect so many. The other day I was scrolling on TikTok, something I do many times a day because it is addicting. I came across a girl with a good amount of followers. I got sucked into her account and just kept scrolling through and reading comments from others. Until I realized everything she used for her account was AI-generated. She would even edit herself using AI, and nobody even realized until recently. It took me 30 minutes of scrolling to realize everything on her platform was fake.

Things on social media can have a particularly significant impact on teenagers. Deteriorating their mental health by the day, and how they view themselves. Rather than edited pictures on Instagram or a completely unrealistic TikTok video. It can make someone of any age greatly insecure. Before the year of 2020, social media used to be something fun. Where people would post random things about their lives or express themselves. Such as hard posting a Starbucks drink on Instagram, or walking their dog on the beach. Just random things that brought life to social media. Recently, people have been looking back and recreating things from 2016. Such as the aesthetics. Which I believe is going to bring more of a community to social media rather than a competition.

“Social media applications mobile screen“/ CC0 1.0

Los Angeles

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I love Los Angeles more than anything; it’s where I grew up. Because of that, it will always have a special place in my heart. I remember driving through Santa Monica when I was a little girl, not yet able to read well. I would always read it as “Santa’s Mouth” for some reason. That is something I will always remember. I used to move a lot as a kid, but it would never be from state to state. My mom and I would just move to different places in LA. Growing up in Laurel Canyon was special, and now I will always know my way around. We went from Laurel Canyon to Malibu to Santa Monica, and now we live in Ojai. I don’t even know if I want to leave California for college. Yes, I want to get to see more of the world and have different experiences. But the thought of going to college somewhere in LA has always interested me. Driving through LA now gives me the most gut-wrenching nostalgia. When I drive through LA, I listen to 2016 music and pretend I’m still in that era. My only worry was going to bed early. Now I go straight to my room and take naps after school.

“Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles, California“/ CC0 1.0

Finals

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Finals are coming up right around the corner, and I am more stressed than ever. I already feel unprepared, even though we still have 3 more weeks, including break. I don’t understand why humans are required to put in so much work to academics when, in the end, we all die. Obviously, the skill of being knowledgeable in life is important, but why does it have to drag to this level? There are some finals I am confident about, while others I have no idea how I am even going to start reviewing the material. The fact that we put everything we’ve learning in a semester in one test is crazy. But to be honest, I always stress as much as I can about it and end up doing fine. It’s just the concept of studying for every single class. I’m just going to accept my fate and pray that I do well. Test-taking isn’t my strongest quality, but I know I am capable, and if I can do it as a freshman, I can for sure do it as a sophomore.

“School desk are arranged exam“/ CC0 1.0

Motivation

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Lately, I feel like I have been losing motivation for almost everything. Even just getting up out of my bed and getting a glass of water. I don’t know if it’s because winter is creeping up, or if it’s because I work myself out of energy. But I think about when I was little and how much more energy I had. Clearly, kids have a lot of energy, but it feels different now that I’m older. I miss being a kid so much, but growing up has just been dreadful lately. I remember when school used to be fun. It would just be a place where I would see my friends. But now the only thing that motivates me to get out of bed in the morning is if I have a free block that day. I usually don’t, but sometimes I wait until the last minute to do my homework or anything else I need to do before bed. I’ll be lying down on my phone, and when the clock hits 9, I say 5 more minutes. Next thing I know, it’s 11. Hopefully, I will get my motivation to do things back soon.

Death

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The concept of death scares the life out of me to a deeper level. I want to be able to understand where we go after we completely lose consciousness. I don’t know why I am so interested in Death, but I think about it every night before bed. I’ll stare at my ceiling and think Who am I? Am I living in a simulation? Are we people around me even real? Or is it my world that everyone else is living in?

The concept of Heaven and Hell might be real, but for some reason, I don’t believe it. I believe that it is a concept created by humans over time. How do we know if there is a heaven or a hell if we have never died? There are so many questions I have, but I can’t answer until I experience it myself. Of course, I don’t want to die; I just want to know how the afterlife works. Do we immediately get reincarnated?

I’ve read articles online, I’ve talked to people, and somehow still can’t seem to understand. Obviously, humans were never meant to think about death. But are the concepts of Heaven and hell supposed to make us forget about the fact of death? Or keep us in a safe headspace, to where we think we know we are going in the afterlife.

“Free angel sculpture image“/ CC0 1.0

Drivers License

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I’ve been waiting to get my license since before I can even remember. As soon as I turned 15 and a half, I immediately got my permit. When I failed the first time, it was really discouraging. But a week later, I retook the test and passed. As soon as I got my permit, I wanted to drive right away. I wasn’t aware that you were supposed to have lessons first to legally be able to drive. As soon as I got my lessons I begged my mom to drive everywhere.

My permit had been stolen from my mom’s car, and I had to do driver’s ed twice. So it hasn’t been the most positive journey, but I have gotten through all of the tough parts. The part that I am most stressed about is taking my actual license test and failing. Though more than half of people fail their first time I’m eager to drive and be on my own. I don’t know what it is about driving that I love so much, I just love doing it. The feeling of being free and being able to drive yourself to and from school feels so nice.

As soon as I get my license, I’m never going to stop driving. At least until I get sick of it, but I know that won’t happen for a while. I just believe that whatever happens is meant to happen and I’m grateful for that. I just want to be able to go see my friends and go places without worrying about rides. Ever since I was little, I have always been friends with older people. But my freshmen year is when I got friends who could drive. Which influenced me way more. Luckily my birthday is in 3 days so the time is coming closer. I couldn’t be more nervous or excited.

“Drive Car” by Humphrey Muleba/ CC0 1.0

Horseback Riding

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I have been riding horses since I was six years old. When I lived in Uruguay, we would go ride these wild horses in a place called the campo. That’s where I found my love for riding. As soon as we returned back I begged my mom to start lessons, and that’s where my journey began. I would go to summer camps, ride 4 to 5 times a week, and completely devote myself. When I was about 12 years old, I had taken a little break, but I knew how much I missed it. I had switched from English to Western, but I knew I liked riding English way more. When I started my new school in Ojai, I did the riding program and loved it so much. Moving on to my freshman year is where my passion started drifting away. I would dread having to go and ride. I didn’t understand it though, because I had always been so excited whenever I got to ride. To this day, I still don’t understand what unmotivated me so much. I ended up quitting riding a quarter into my freshman year, and I still miss it so much. Luckily, horseback riding is a skill that just ingrains into you as soon as you learn it. It’s like something you will never forget. Maybe you will forget the little things, like putting on a saddle or a bridle. But I will never forget my love for those horses and for the sport.

“Animals Horses” by Omar Prestwich/ CC0 1.0