Brooke Gardner

High School

Being a teenager is a difficult time in people’s lives. It comes with both mental and physical changes that can be extremely overwhelming. Entering high school doesn’t help with this process. High school often adds to the worry of social acceptance and status. This has affected me throughout my years in high school; social acceptance affected my self esteem and relationships. However, I find that being kind to others and receiving kindness can help benefit someone’s confidence and mental health. A good deed that stood out from all my other experiences of teenage kindness, happened my junior year of high school. It was finally lunch time, the day had been rough so far and I was ready to fuel my body. I went through the lunch line, alone of course, with my earbuds in. Green, green, green, my lunch was so boring. Only a simple salad. Approaching the seating area, I prepared myself to find a table to sit at. I stood for a moment not seeing any empty tables. Once I found an empty table, I sat to eat. Face down, earbuds in, no contact. The feeling was lonely and I’m aware my actions were isolating, but I couldn’t seem to approach people. People very rarely approached me, but that day was different. Sometimes I would look up just a glance. That day I looked up and saw a group of girls sitting at a table in front of me. One of the five girls was looking back at me, but then turned around talking to the other girls. I continued to eat my food. Later I looked up again and saw the group of girls talking and looking at me. I assumed they were talking about me in a bad way, for that was all I had experienced. I looked down at my food, then pulled out my phone to distract myself from the girls. A minute or so later, I looked up again and saw the same girl looking back at me. She was smiling and waving. I assumed she was waving at someone behind me, so I didn’t wave and looked away to avoid embarrassment. A few seconds later I looked up at them again. She was still waving and smiled. I pointed to myself in a confused way and mouthed the word “me?”. She shook her head yes, smiling as the other girls watched. I smiled excitedly at her and returned the wave. Before my socially anxious self knew it they were walking over to the table I was sitting at. I watched them walk over to me. The first girl sat down, the rest following.