Issue 26: Strength Beyond My Struggles | Darcy Byrne

School is tough, that I know,
imagine it ten times as slow.
I try, and I try, yet still, I fail,
The words jumble, the letters crawl.
The words have no meaning
Each lesson drags,
an hour feels slow,
with no place to hide.
Reread, reread. That’s all I ever do,
the stress is endless.
The tests, the tasks, they cut me to my core,
echoing through me like a bell.
The more you give me, the more I implode.
So easy, so easy, peers say with ease.
Like if my hard work was meaningless.
Yet they don’t see the sleepless nights,
just to pass or get the same grade as them
Yet these repeat through my head.
Step in my shoes,
See how far you go.
Tease me, bully me,
I refuse to be as low as you,
Yet, in my heart, I know.
Despite my disability,
I am willing to grow.
~
Darcy Byrne

Personal Reflection

Now, everyone knows how stressful and exhausting school is! Try learning when everything is ten times harder, and you have to work harder than anyone else just to get the same result. It’s beyond frustrating. Everything makes you tired, even if it’s as small as reading one single paragraph: you lose your place, reread the same line over and over, and by the end, you don’t even remember what you just read. It makes you really hate reading. And don’t even get me started with the questions! Most people look at a question and instantly know how to answer it. Me, on the other hand—well, I just stare at the question, completely lost. I waste so much time just sitting there, trying to make sense of it. By the end of the lesson, I know just as much as I knew before because I don’t even know how to begin answering. It also takes me forever to read, so when a teacher expects us to read three chapters overnight, it feels impossible. Like, give me a break! My disability makes everything ten times harder, and on top of that, it makes me feel exhausted and even worthless because, despite putting in so much effort, it still feels like I’m falling behind. And don’t even get me started on tests—I freeze, my brain shuts down, and I walk out feeling like a failure. Dyslexia is a pain, and sometimes, I wish people could understand how hard it really is.