I've an English & social studies paper tomorrow and as I haven't written for very long, I'm afraid that my writing has turned rusty thus I'm writing this to practise my expository essay. Read through it if you wish and comment your views, it'll be interesting to see a multitude of viewpoints on such a societal issue.

A wise man once said: “Challenges in life can either enrich you or poison you. You are the one who decides.” Challenges are inevitable and inescapable in today’s societal context; they are like the red lights we face while on our way to school today, or the twist and turns we face when we walk round the block - they are ubiquitous. However, the twist and turns we face in life may have varying results. They may serve as catalysts for change or they may act as a poignant poison and incapacitate us. In today’s context, we define teenagers as people regardless of their gender, race or religion, as youths between the ages of thirteen to twenty. Youth marks the most tumultuous period in one’s life; it is the period of time where teenagers discover more about themselves physically, mentally and emotionally. Life’s challenges as obstacles youths face in all aspect of life and this includes academics, financial, friendship and family problems. The question whether or not life challenges bring out the best in our young is a question worth exploring and hence it remains the crux of this essay.

Firstly, according to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality, personality is composed of three elements. These three elements of personality known as the id, the ego and the superego - work together to create complex human behaviors. The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is a state anxiety or tension. This serves as a positive drive that spurs youth on to find solutions to their problems. For example, student A had failed her A math classes since the start of the year despite studying for it; instinctively, the brain would stimulate the id to kick in thus deducing ways in which she could possible improve in that subject. Solutions may come in the form of finding a tutor to help her in that subject, consulting her teachers or to simply do more practice. Therefore, life’s challenges teaches youths to rise to the occasion and tackle whatever problems that may come their way hence enhancing the valuable soft skills, that would help them in the working world, in them.

However, challenges are like a double-edged sword; they can either make you or break you. Long-term exposure to undaunted challenges may have an adverse effect on the youth and instead of spurring them on, it acts as a poignant cross that draws them back, into the endless abyss of self-doubt that would be detrimental to one’s metal’s health. Even the toughest cookies have a breaking point especially when they have been exposed to prolonged periods of high-level stress. Depression may sink in as youths are trapped in an arduous cycle of constant failure and hence leading towards a dismal downward spiral where one may even chose to end his or her life – suicide.

On the contrary, some may beg to differ and may argue that challenges are the building blocks of life that inculcates important values such as determination and perseverance in youths without it, a strawberry generation would be born thus leading to undesirable consequences in the near future. Life is like an enervating never ending marathon and to run it, one would need stamina, a strong will and determinations – traits that are important for this journey called life. Like the lyrics in the song Someday by Korean boy band U-KISS, “ When you fall down, when you get up; Even if it’s difficult, a day to smile would come.” All would be clear after the rain hence it is important that one endures and embrace the incoming challenges with open arms. An example would be Wu Yi Fan or commonly known as Kris Wu, an inactive member of popular boy band EXO and a solo actor in China. Kris Wu came from Vancouver Canada to Seoul, South Korea at the tender age of sixteen to pursue a career in the entertainment industry after being scouted by SM talent scouts during their global audition. Kris trained in South Korea for a near five years before debuting and those years he spent training was spent in sweat and tears. Kris had endured numerous insults and harsh cultural differences before debuting on stage. In an interview after EXO-M - EXO’s Chinese subgroup, won most influential boy band in China, Kris mentioned the tough trainee days filled with challenges he had gone through before standing proud on the stage with s with tears in his eyes. Thus, Kris serves as an impeccable example in the circumstances of all being calm after a storm.

Between the fight and flight response in humans, youth must be taught to distinguished both with tenacity and grow to tread on the places where angels fear to tread; life challenges would then only bring out the best in youths. There would always be ups and downs in our lives, nothing is calm during the storm; youths must therefore learn to sail through the storm as they learn how to tackle and deal with challenges and failure. Therefore for all of these reasons, I am proud to propose that life’s challenges bring out the best in our young.