People impact us every day. They smile at us in the hallway or pick us as partners in class. They give you letters of encouragement, or strategically write texts saying they never liked you at all. 

Friends can turn to enemies and enemies can turn to friends. Whatever the circumstance may be, no matter how bright a person makes you smile, or how many tears they make you shed—thank them. Thank them for impacting you, for molding you into a magnificent sculpture made out of compassion and strength.

Each face we encounter will have a different role in our life. Some encounters make us boil over with rage, while others will melt us like butter. Whether you get told you are not good enough, or get told “I am proud of you,” people’s opinions will stick with you. 

We might not realize it, but each and every syllable that comes out of our all-telling mouths, possibly cruel or magical, will alter someone’s thoughts. If only for a second our brain will be consumed by whatever was said. 

People have the power to change others. Their opinions, their mindsets, their confidence—all can be persuaded one way or another by the words and the faces we see and hear every day. When you get a compliment on your shoes or when someone confesses their love for you, it automatically triggers something inside of you that makes you happier than before. 

We sit in the classroom, we perform in gymnasiums, we look at our Instagram feed. We see face after face wondering what they are thinking, what they’re going to say next. We thank them for being in our lives, and we move on to the next face, the next hour, and ultimately the next step in life. 

So thank you to the coaches that made me tough, and to the friends that let me rant to them about it later. Thank you to the neighbor down the street who hugs me for no reason at all. Thank you to the girls on my cheer team that catch me when I fall both mentally and physically. Thank you to my mom who carries all my problems on her shoulders every day. Thank you to the many teachers that have let me cry to them about my life. And thank you to the sister that is always there to turn on the lights. I would even like to thank the people that have hurt me, because, if it wasn’t for them, I would not be the same person I am writing this to you now. 

And thank you to the world for providing me with so many interesting faces to look at and wonder about. Maybe someone even wonders about me; if only for a second my words will sink into your brain and consume your thoughts. Possibly, you may even wonder what I might write about next, or what impact you have made on me or I have made on you.

Don’t worry, you can thank me later.