Pen Name or Anonymous: anonymous
Age & Location: 19, Illinois, USA

I never really knew where I fit academically. In some classes, things felt easy but in others, I felt behind almost immediately. I wasn’t failing but I also wasn’t at the top. I kept bouncing between feeling capable and feeling clueless, sometimes in the same day.

When I started taking harder classes, I paid way too much attention to comparison. Who spoke faster. Who understood things right away. I studied more, watched videos late at night, and still felt like I was pretending and not actually smart or anything. At the same time, I realized I’d probably made other people feel that way without meaning to.

I don’t know when it shifted, but I stopped using grades to explain myself. They still matter, but not in the way I thought they did. Most people aren’t “smart” or “not.” Most of us are just better at some things and worse at others.

If you are in a similar situation:

You don’t have to decide what you’re “good at” yet. It’s okay to be unsure, it doesn’t mean you’re behind.

A story about comparison, self-doubt, and learning to stop letting it decide your worth.