Potential

A poem that reveals the pressure that "high-achievers" suffer from.

They told her she could be anything and everything she wanted to be The potential, the gifting was there It was clear from birth that she was going to do great things She just had a certain air Her parents bragged that she was the perfect daughter Her teachers praised her brains Her friends loved to say they knew her They all said, “This one’s going to change the world someday!” True to their predictions, she rocketed sky-high She grabbed ahold of her dreams And stared them in the eye She had everything she could ever wish for But what no one could see on the surface Was simmering deep inside One day, it boiled over It became impossible to hide Away from the approval of others, When the truth was stripped down to the bone Beneath all the success, the beauty, the perfection She felt strangely alone She was in a hole of her own making Slowly, deeper and deeper she dug Assaulted by the unquenchable aching Crushed by the weight of expectations Under the scrutiny of all She struggled to please “Am I nothing more than what I do?” She asked herself with a growing sense of unease She shed her tears in private Putting on a bold face for all to see Never daring to let her weakness show Trading her dreams for an alternate reality The constant scrutiny of others Melted through her core The glaring eyes bored through Until she couldn’t take it anymore “I’m not hindered by anyone’s Views or opinions of me I’m my own person I was unable to see that clearly before I can make anything and everything Of myself if I wish; I’ll do it, I swear! After all, as I’m always told, The gifting, the potential is there.”

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