2026 – McKenna Ullery – Pleasant Grove High School HS

One More Day

It all began when I transferred schools the summer between my freshman year and my sophomore year. I left everyone and everything I knew for a chance at a better place for me to fit in. I knew no one except for the few members of the soccer team at my new high school I had trained with that summer to prepare for the upcoming season. It would turn out to be the last season I ever played high school soccer. What was supposed to be a family of soccer friends and coaches turned out to be a group of bullies versus their victims. I would dread going to school with no friends and dreaded practice even more because I knew I was not good enough in their eyes and my own. It got so bad that by the end of the season I wanted to quit soccer altogether and give into the dark thoughts that followed me through each day. 

Then the turning point of that year came in one swift movement. I joined technical theatre and it has saved my life over and over ever since the day I joined the class. I met people who built me up and didn’t tear me down. I was happier, energetic, and ready for whatever came at me. But every happy moment has an ending. 

The ending came when I found myself caught back up with drugs and losing a relationship that shapes me to this day. I went into the summer depressed and ready to end it all. Somehow I had lost all the love for the things I was so passionate about. I was going through a breakup and felt that nothing else mattered in the world. But when there is an ending there is also a beginning of something new. I found myself surrounded yet again by those who loved me and who supported me through my recovery. I went on adventures with my friends who had all graduated, causing this sense of fleeting time. I spent every minute I could with them making memories before they left on missions and to college. The summer between Sophomore year and Junior year was a summer I will never forget. It taught me I didn’t need to be in a relationship to be happy, and that family is not always your blood. 

Then Junior year hit, and it hit hard. I yet again felt like I was starting over because all my closest friends had graduated and moved on. I felt stuck and left behind, like nothing mattered. I was left with my thoughts and found myself struggling to cope with what felt like losing everyone all at once. It felt like everyone in my life had left because they didn’t love me. That was where I lost myself and my will to continue. In September of that year I was driving to work after a fight with one of my only “surviving” friends. I felt like everything was gone and that there was no point staying on this earth anymore. So I drove off the road and launched myself and my car into a ravine. I called my friend and told her “I need to be picked up I just tried to kill myself”. In minutes she was there and I had called the police and my Mom. She held me as I told my fake story of how I lost control and simply wasn’t driving smart. My Mom asked me to go to work and she would get the car out with the rest of my family. The police said that I looked okay and that I wasn’t in any trouble and left. I was given a ride to work by my friend and she called me out. She told me that I had three options, either she would tell my mom, I could, or we could go to her mom (who’s a licensed therapist) and have her talk to my mom with me. I chose the third option and called into work. The talk that followed with my mother ended with me going to the hospital and staying in a mental facility for over a week. That week was the hardest week I’ve ever gone through, and yet it was what I needed most. After I felt like I had found coping skills to help me get better. I wasn’t just free after I got out though. I was driven everywhere I needed to be and had to go to an intensive outpatient unit for months. During this time I found my love for theatre again and threw myself at my work. I was absorbed in being a technician and spent hours at the school. After my stay I met new people and they are some of my closest friends now. Finally I thought my life was looking up and I was feeling better. Then it all fell apart, again I fell into drugs and threw away relationships that mattered most to me. It wasn’t all bad though, I was able to find my passion for stage management and work with some amazing people. For once I was going into the summer feeling like I was stable and had an amazing support system. 

 

The summer between Junior and Senior year was an amazing experience that taught me through the ups and downs of life I was going to be okay. I did lose some friends but I also was influenced by them to give up drugs and this time I stuck to it. I am now half way through Senior year and couldn’t be happier. There are still days that I struggle and that I want to go back to who I was. But I know now that there is better in this world and the idea of tomorrow being better than today is what keeps me positive and grounded. I am now 11 months sober and couldn’t be prouder of all the things I have gone through to get here. So if you are struggling with your high school journey and feel like giving up, stay. The words “One more day” always help me stay grounded and focused on what matters. I know how hard juggling home life, relationships, school work, and extra curricular activities can be but it is all worth it in the end. Stay, because even in the darkest moments of life there are people that love and care about you. If I could give anybody any advice I would say find something you love and stick with it, find the people you love and stick with them. These are the moments that matter, but don’t waste them worrying that they will end. Enjoy them to the fullest and remember that just focusing on “One more day” is sometimes what we need to do.