Dear friend,

I was told that you are very stressed as you are in the final stage before the exams. That you have changes in your emotional state. Sometimes you feel calm and confident and sometimes you feel dark - difficult - impossible and you feel your efforts are unnecessary. That sometimes you make jokes, as if there is no problem, and sometimes the smallest joke they make is capable of making you want to destroy everything...

I learn that your people try to support you and sometimes they succeed, sometimes they succeed in the opposite way, as worrying themselves, they try to convince you not to worry... As they look at you with a bitter or scared look, like when a loved one is sick .

That when you read a lot, they tell you that you should go out, blow yourself up, but when you do go out, they look at you worriedly that you may have given up...

So they asked me because I work with teenagers and their families, to write something that can help…

So I will be clear, as you should be, when you refer to life.

Stress, anxiety, worry, insecurity, destabilization, restlessness, irritation, fear, all of these are not only not negative elements on your path, but on the contrary, they are evidence that you are alive, healthy and responsible...

A healthy person, when he is in an internal process, when he sets goals, when he takes exams (any kind of exams), when he opens up, then it is normal to wonder... It is taking responsibility for his freedom that makes it difficult for him...

It's nice to have a goal and fight for it. Then you are and feel alive. During the race, if you are normal you will also wonder if you will succeed. You will also wonder if it is worth all the effort. As for whether he is the one that suits you or even if he is actually your goal or some others have imposed it on you directly or indirectly...

But all this is not a weakness. They are not treason. It is his chance to reaffirm and redefine your goal. It is the price of freedom. And when you still close your ears and do not deal with such questions and that is health, as you know that the achievement of the specific goal will not mean the final determination, but instead allow you to set other goals in the future...

An athlete running 100 m does not have time to think. He concentrates, takes a breath and runs without turning to see next to him or inside him, what is happening. But a marathon runner, as he runs, thinks, thinks again, sweats, gets exhausted, wonders about his strength, about the adequacy of his training, about the capabilities of his opponents, about whether he should now or later give all his strength. He even wonders if running a marathon is the best option or if he should be doing something else. And as he wonders, he runs... And of course it's not about a weak person, because then he wouldn't be able to run a Marathon...

It is the long arduous and demanding process of the Marathon that raises questions. And you, my friend, do not run 100 m. You are running a marathon and you deserve my applause, however you feel.

I wish you success, but not only in a school or a good school, but in something more. In defending your choices and at the same time expanding them...

Dimitris Karagiannis