The thing I wish I would have known as a high school student: success and failure often feel the same to me. They are big, complicated feelings that after processing usually leave me feeling just a tad empty. (failed at a thing? I have to do more to do it right. succeeded at thing? I have to do more to get it again)

What I wish I had sought instead of prestige, is the process.

No words of criticism or affirmation outlive or feel better than being in process with a project. Which is lucky, because it is the only thing we know that we can have.