Doing what you love, and loving yourself

By Opinion Editor Warren Su

My friend sits in front of me, eyes looking hopelessly down as videos fly by on his phone. “Yeah,” he tells me, “I’m probably going to Ohlone.”

Ridiculous. I find it odd how so many people at MSJ feel as though they aren’t good enough for higher education, or that they’re struggling in school. Obviously the jokes about community college are just that, jokes — but they reveal a deeper truth: that, despite being one of the top high schools in the nation, we never feel like we are enough. 

This summer, I stepped out of the MSJ bubble at a writing program. There, I realized just how competent we are: taking all these APs, extracurriculars, and hard classes, while still aiming for high SAT scores. There’s this sort of raw surprise I see in people when I describe MSJ, because, where there from, no one is doing what we do.

I remember telling another friend, “Look at us, we can both do calculus and still put on great Homecoming performances. What other school can say that?” In truth, I am blown away perhaps more so by our artistic talents than our academic ones. It feels like we have a person for everything. 

But we never feel that way. Comparison gets in our way, and, ultimately, an “MSJ culture” that forces us all into one “model student.” We all walk the same path because we are too fearful to stray; we are too fearful that when we leave the beaten path we risk our entire future. But, in doing so, we risk a future of frustration where we have neither accomplished our goals of perfection nor followed our hearts with passion. We stay on the path because we feel as though we will fall too far behind if we leave. 

Imposter syndrome is all too common in society. A 2019 study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine researched studies demonstrated that the prevalence of imposter syndrome ranged from 9–82% based on variance in testing. This may seem surprising, especially when taken into account with the fact that, statistically speaking, greater than 50% of the population cannot be worse than the median of the population. But, sometimes, we feel like imposters because we want to grow. A study published by MIT Sloan Business School in 2025 found that those with imposter syndrome demonstrated more effort in their work. Especially when the topic is something we are passionate about, we thrive in challenges. 

All of this is to say that we are good enough. Sure, we might not be the best in everything, but I think it is useless to be the best in something we don’t genuinely enjoy. We take harder classes and, even when we don’t, our hard work is broadcast across campus. There’s something else I’ve learned while just simply talking to people: everyone has some aspect of them which shines, every person has some unique perspective, and everyone has something they love. My father always used to tell me — in a quote translated from Chinese — that “no hard work is ever wasted.” 

So please, focus on the things you love. I know it is cliché, and that this doesn’t apply to everyone, but I think for MSJ students it does. Because we have already covered our baselines and excelled at our fundamentals. All we need to do now is take some risk — not reckless decisions, but potentially uncomfortable, emotional ones. When we do, we’ll be happy falling to the ground when we shoot for the stars, because at least we will love it when we can finally fly.