It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman flying over Metropolis to bring a stop to the actions of villains of the city and peace to the minds of its citizens. At a young age, I believed that when I was in trouble, some type of hero would swoop in and save the day. While it may seem silly to think that there are heroes hiding in the shadows —ready to come to the aid of civilization at a moment's notice — I know that there are people in my life with extraordinary abilities that only a true superhero could possess.
When I entered high school, I had lost hope that there was any hero out there who could save me from stress, worry, and all the other problems that could arise in the life of a teenager. I had been captured by the evil that was anxiety because I thought I was not going to perform well in my English class.
For being a high-achieving student, this was enough to send me down a spiraling, dark hole that I would not be able to get myself out of. I felt hopeless and alone. I needed someone to rescue me from the villainous clutches of worry and despair. I knew I needed to talk to someone, but I was too scared to talk to the counselor or the actual English teacher, so I decided I would go talk to the only teacher I thought would listen. She was the band teacher at the time and had a reputation for helping her students with their problems. As we talked about all the stresses and worries that I was facing in my life at the time, it was as if all my problems began to melt away like they had never even existed. It seemed as though she had some sort of power that completely pulverized all the worry and stress in my life. She was the superhero I had been searching for all those years.
After realizing that there was a hero in my life who possessed special abilities, I noticed that there were more people around me with extraordinary powers than I previously thought. My friends had smiles that could light up the darkest of days. My sister had a brain that could make any problem seem easy to solve. Even my mom had an ability to love that could make even the loneliest of souls feel safe and supported. While these may just seem like unimportant characteristics that everyone can possess, they hold so much power to me. Their gifts make the days so much easier to get through. They are the reasons why I believe that superheroes exist in the world today. All my life I waited for someone in a cape to come save the day, but it was the people around me who were the true heroes.
