Never Stop Doing Right

Written by Ava Li, a BRITE youth spokesperson.

I’m not perfect. It can be hard to accept, but failure is just a part of life. I really hate mistakes, because I hate to be wrong. Every time I lose a tennis match, every time someone is angry with me, or every time I get hurt… I always find myself choking on regret, I am always trying to find something that I did wrong, because it’s always just my fault, right? But what happens when I can’t find what I did wrong, what happens when my tears of frustration at myself just turn into complete hopelessness? 

“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.” – Lisa Carter, The Hate U Give. 

What if I ran for every ball, fought my hardest for every point, but in the end my opponent simply played better than me? What if I told my sad friend everything I could to cheer her up, gave her all the hugs in the world, then gave her the space she asked for, yet she was still angry at me or thought I was annoying? What if I fell because I pushed myself to the limit but simply pushed a little too hard? Well, I will still run for every ball on the court, will still love my friend, and will still work my hardest, although maybe not more than my hardest. Things have definitely gone wrong for me, but I will never stop doing right.