After a long day of online school on my cold desk, I decide to go on a short stroll. I struggle to put the dusty blue leash on my hyper and out of breath pug. I insert one of my dirty whitish AirPods into my ear and turn on my favorite playlist filled with cheesy pop music. I attempt to fix my unpleasing hunched posture as I cross the street filled with cracks caused by some kind of earthquake.
     Oftentimes, I worry and stress about unnecessary things. A multitude of thoughts appear and quickly develop into new ones like growing mold, then those new thoughts dominate the previous ones and so on. It happens quite often actually... Maybe too often. I am an overthinker. I am anxious. Oh, why must I grow up so fast? I am still young, am I not? I’m only fifteen, am I not? Shall I not enjoy my limited teenage years instead of worrying about my electives for next year? Do my friends worry as I worry? Am I the only one? Why do they never seem as worried as me? Am I overthinking? Of course, I am. I always am.
     I listen to the funny sound of my dog's heavy breathing as he struggles to walk in a straight line. Silly pug. I walk past an old couple’s house when the smell of black cigarettes and grey smoke take up space in my nostrils. It’s an unpleasant smell but it somehow calmly brings me out of my thoughts. As I stroll on the uneven sidewalk that stretches across the edge of the mountains, the infuriated ants attempt to crawl up my long legs so I stomp on them. I carefully admire the unusual beauty of the mountains that are painted light brown. The grey spots parched over their huge bodies that seem to stretch forever. Today the sun somehow compliments the curves of the chunks of mass that interrupt the never-ending horizon. How beautiful. The children across the road play cheerfully as their gummy smiles enhance their small faces. What do they have to worry about? Not much. Maybe deciding which flavor candy to eat. Sweet cherry or wavy blue?
     I wish I was still a kid. No worries or pressure about college. My mind, clean and innocent. I zone back into my worrisome thoughts about the near future. I’m back in my hyper mindset. Time is running out so I must choose my electives quickly. So many options to choose from. Let us see. There’s Ceramics, Theater, Criminal law, AP classes and oh Spanish... Should I do another year of the dreadful Spanish or should I do something more calming and fun like Ceramics? Spanish has been a bit difficult so maybe not Spanish. Oh but won’t Spanish look better on my resume? Wait. Should I do honors English next year or regular English? Didn’t my counselor say that dropping out of honors English will not satisfy the college I’ll apply to? Maybe I heard her wrong. No. That can’t be right. Can I even handle another year of Spanish and honors English? What to do, what to do.
     I get to the bumpy part of this elongated path and am forced to play parkour as I try not to twist my dry ankle on the spreaded rocks that I cautiously walk over. Some rocks have pieces of pink bubble gum on them and others are stuck to the ground. As I pull back my pug from chasing the rushing cars that swiftly pass us, he carelessly presses his harsh blue leash on my soft pink hands. Since the upper half of his chubby body is pulled back by his bluish leash, he turns his rear-end towards the road in an attempt to somehow catch the busy cars. Weird pug. I watch the bright orange sun calmly drip down behind the bumpy mountains as its warmth starts to feel less evident on my sweating body. The dark green trees are a still picture with fine lines painted on their dry leaves. No wind today. I bring my brown eyes down and observe that the creamish white daisy that was bright and happy just last week has now dried up and sadly cracked into tiny pieces. My observations clear my thoughts for a short moment.
     As I make a turn that will take me back home, I conclude that it is okay to somewhat worry about the near future, but I shall not let it quickly dominate my mental health. I am still young and should enjoy my golden years, but that doesn’t mean I should not care about my education. Must stay calm. Stay calm. I need to balance my values and stop creating problems that weren't there.