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The Pressure to Shine

  • Writer: bdaniloff2008
    bdaniloff2008
  • Oct 31
  • 1 min read

Being a first-generation student sometimes feels like living in two realities. One is bright—the pride of doing what no woman in my family has done before. The other is shadowed by guilt: What if I mess this up?Every test, every application feels like it carries generations on its back.

The turning point came during college essay season. I wrote a line that surprised me:

“Maybe success isn’t about being the first; maybe it’s about making sure I’m not the last.”

That sentence rewired me. I realized I don’t have to carry perfection; I just have to carry possibility.So now, when pressure tightens my chest, I breathe out a reminder: I’m not performing for legacy—I’m building a doorway for someone else to walk through more easily.

If you, too, are the “first,” please remember: you’re not rewriting your family’s worth. You’re expanding its horizon.


 
 
 

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