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Luvly_DakotahPoems
I’m seventeen and already exhausted in ways adults don’t seem to notice. I wake up tired, go to bed tired, carry the day in my shoulders like it’s something I forgot how to set down. I’m trying. In quiet ways. In showing up when I don’t want to. In holding myself together at school. In doing homework with a brain that won’t slow down. In learning how to breathe through stuff no one sees. And then you say, “Try harder.” Like I haven’t been giving everything I have. Like effort has a volume **** I just forgot to turn up. Like I’m choosing to struggle. You don’t see the nights I stare at the ceiling replaying mistakes. You don’t see how much courage it takes just to keep going some days. You don’t hear the way my heart talks to itself when I feel like I’m falling behind. I want to scream, This is me trying. This is me learning how to grow without breaking apart. This is me doing my best with what I have right now. I don’t need pressure. I don’t need comparisons. I need patience. I need someone to notice that I haven’t given up. So when you tell me to try harder, please understand— I already am. And sometimes surviving the day is the hardest part.
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Feb 5
Feb 5, 2026 at 12:32 PM UTC
Surviving The Day Is The Hardest Part
I’m seventeen and already exhausted in ways adults don’t seem to notice. I wake up tired, go to bed tired, carry the day in my shoulders like it’s something I forgot how to set down. I’m trying. In quiet ways. In showing up when I don’t want to. In holding myself together at school. In doing homework with a brain that won’t slow down. In learning how to breathe through stuff no one sees. And then you say, “Try harder.” Like I haven’t been giving everything I have. Like effort has a volume **** I just forgot to turn up. Like I’m choosing to struggle. You don’t see the nights I stare at the ceiling replaying mistakes. You don’t see how much courage it takes just to keep going some days. You don’t hear the way my heart talks to itself when I feel like I’m falling behind. I want to scream, This is me trying. This is me learning how to grow without breaking apart. This is me doing my best with what I have right now. I don’t need pressure. I don’t need comparisons. I need patience. I need someone to notice that I haven’t given up. So when you tell me to try harder, please understand— I already am. And sometimes surviving the day is the hardest part.
I'm trying...
#sad#trying#parents#surviving#hard#understand#giveup#doingmybest#fallingbehind#courage
Luvly_Dakotah
Written by
Luvly_Dakotah
17/F/Kansas
Feb 5
Feb 5, 2026 at 12:32 PM UTC
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