Spring begins poorly.
I lose a grandpa to what is rumored to be suicide.
I am close to failing my senior project,
The stress of funerals, grief, work, and school becomes so much,
That I attempt suicide myself.
With the failure to end,
I vow to succeed in continuing.
I complete my senior project with applause,
And finish my senior year.

Summer starts off similarly.
Friends who typically gave very little in the give and take of our friendship,
Now take even more,
Then express displeasure with how much I am giving.
I decide enough is enough.
Old negative influences are cut out.
I run for an academic leadership position,
Replacing old negativity, with new motivation.
The year seems a little better now.

Fall begins on this hopeful attitude.
First semester of the last year at early college,
And I am without my old friends.
Surrounded by new people on a bigger campus,
I take everything head on.
No more people to please with nothing in return,
I now do what pleases me.
I apply to colleges, I take on more leadership roles,
And am met with success I have never experienced.

Winter is ushered in,
Seeing a profoundly different me.
I laugh louder, walk taller.
After falling so far in the beginning of the year,
I have climbed back up, and higher.
My smile is genuine, more so than years previous.
I usher in 2017 with grape juice and a kiss on my dog’s head.
I beat my own odds in 2016,
And I begin this year ready for another round.