There have been various points in my life where I felt “anonymous”, but out of all those times there is a specific one that sticks with me. Through the entirety of my highschool life I was nothing but a name that most knew about. Everyone knew that Adrian Polanco was that smart and quiet kid that you could go to if you ever needed help with homework or if you saw in the hallway you can just say hi to. Even with that “popularity” I was a loner, I never really had the options to be as free as I wanted to. My mother is someone who tends to be protective and when she saw that I was going to a dangerous highschool she never really wanted me to go anywhere else except home as soon as I got out of school. This meant I couldn’t join any teams, clubs, or even hangout with people I knew since middle school. It was like living in a bubble where you would want to express yourself but constantly felt trapped and overwhelmed by expectations. The only thing she wanted me to focus on was my grades so that I can get into a good college and become a doctor or a lawyer or any other kind of high paying job. For 4 years it felt like absolute hell never knowing what life I could’ve had if things were different or if I could’ve just shown her that I could take care of myself back then.