Author's Note: My name is Ashley Jenkins and I am a student at White House High School. Outside of schooling, I love spending time with my animals and free-writing! After graduating high school, I hope to go to the University of Houston to get my masters in psychology and entrepreneurship.

Life is a dance of balance, a game of rhythm that sways in the middle of standing tall and falling down. Every individual has felt the weight of the world at times, the feeling that the ground beneath us could crumble at any time; however, there is a powerful truth behind that feeling: you must fall down to stand.

Standing up requires strength unseen by most human eyes—the capability of getting out of bed after losing a job, accomplishing a deep cleaning you had been procrastinating, but standing up is even more than that. Standing up means to embrace your vulnerabilities and understand that you may stumble; however, it is in the act of rising that you discover more skills and strengths. Each time you stand, you assert your voice, your dreams, your life. 

Falling is not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of being human. In regards to infants learning to walk, each tumble is a lesson and a step closer to mastering a skill that will carry them through life. As individuals begin to age, this fundamental truth is often forgotten. Failure is seeped into the minds of us all and hesitation chains us from leaping to our aspirations. Nevertheless, every fall is an invitation to learn, to grow, and to rise again. 

Falling allows you to gain perspective. You gain strengths of your resilience, your grit, and your capability to endure. Rather than looking at setbacks as negative, you need to see them as a chance to recalibrate and to come back stronger. The most remarkable stories of success are often built on a foundation of failures. The saying “Rome was not built in a day” does not come out of nowhere; it took many hardships. After the fall of the Roman empire, major construction began to come to a halt. The population had shrunk and many individuals still faced attacks from opposing empires, but the efforts into constructing a beautiful city had not been given up. The efforts into Rome had taken roughly eight-hundred years, but from the strength of many individuals enduring, it was done. Every great innovator, leader, and artist has faced defeat, but their willingness to stand again and dust themselves off sets them apart from most of the population. 

The start of gaining resilience in your fallings is to embrace your fears. Acknowledge they exist, but don’t allow them to  paralyze you. Remind yourself that the feeling of retreat can be overpowered by standing tall, and that you can overcome any challenge in your pathway.

Editor's Note: Thank you to Mr. Hilliard and White House High School for encouraging students to submit entries. It's in the writing that we find our individual voices and it's in the reading that we connect with one another. We at Stay Positive News are thrilled to highlight these young artists!