If you take a look at my Facebook page—or, for that matter, pretty much anyone’s Facebook page—you’ll get the impression that I’m a pretty happy person. Which I am, thank God. You’ll think that I spend a lot of time doing some cool things and going to some fun, far places, and that I do a ton of pictures with friends.

I won’t deny this is all true. But what bothers me is that this isn’t exactly a full portrait of me. Am I actually always smiling? Am I always hanging out with friends and having a good time? Certainly not. I can be upset and angry and lonely like any other human being. But you wouldn’t know that from anything I put up on social media.

And that’s fine, really. Facebook and other social media work best for positive things, and you wouldn’t want to share everything in your life on them anyway. But I’ve always still wondered what it could be like if I could share more of what my life is like—the boring moments, the occasional anxiety, the stuff I’m not willing to share. What if everyone was willing to share those moments? What would our society be like?

I’m not going to delve into that question, but for this article, I’d like to share a bit about my life in ways I haven’t shared about it before—the more ordinary side. A bit of background first. Nearly two years ago, my siblings and I were all looking at high schools (I’m a triplet). After looking into it, we chose Ramaz in Manhattan, which had been recommended to us by our seventh-grade teacher who once taught there.

So my day begins at 5:30 AM, when my alarm goes off. (This isn’t bragging because Frisch is five minutes away from my house.) The bus arrives at 6:15, and I know I won’t be awake unless I shower. So I trudge out of bed, groggily rush through a shower, and make sure I’m ready to hop on the bus. Then comes the commute—the bus goes from Fair Lawn to Teaneck, goes through all the Teaneck stops, and then finally gets to New York. My siblings sleep, but I try to study and do some work and BUMPPPPPPPP! A school bus ride isn’t exactly what you’d call smooth. And there’s nothing more infuriating than when traffic slows to a crawl. Sometimes it’s nice to have more time on the bus to rest, but most of the time, it’s just plain infuriating to get trapped close to the bridge yet again. (Worth noting: one of the infamous days of the GWB scandal was Erev Rosh Hashana, so we actually missed it.)

Then comes school itself. The classes run the gamut from easy to tough, from interesting to far less, but I usually manage to get through them without falling asleep. It’s not the teachers’ fault—it’s my sleep schedule. (More on that later.) Between classes and at lunch, I try to talk to people. I’ve never been way too much of a social butterfly, and for some reason I just never got into sports. (An example: when it comes to hockey, I know that there’s a difference between the Rangers and the Islanders. And thus endeth my hockey knowledge, isn’t it impressive?)

Which is worse, though—school or a schoolnight? I think it’s a close call. After a club, I commute home on the late bus (leaves at 6:30, on a good night I’m home in an hour so it isn’t so bad) and instantly start to procrastinate. I’ve even considered starting the Ramaz Procrastination Club, but kept pushing it off. Rest assured I do eventually get to work… and to studying for tests. Ramaz is among the number-one schools in America for loading on tests (something they always forget to put in their brochures). Does anyone really know what “sine” and “cosine” mean? Legend has it that once upon a time, a caveman drew two different types of squiggly lines and called them ‘sine’ and ‘cosine’, which mean ‘squiggle’ and ‘squiggly’ in caveman language. I get good grades, thank God, but little sleep. The worst was one night where I stayed up until two in the morning… to wake up at five-thirty. I could probably give the military a run for its money.

You’re probably thinking, “Is Oren really so negative about his life?” Of course not! I’m extremely thankful for what I have, for what I’ve accomplished, and going to Ramaz was my choice. I’m just trying to give you a perspective on the parts of my life that I don’t usually share, that you won’t find on my Facebook page. Why am I sharing all of this? Because I’m not ashamed of it. You know what? I’m human! And instead of regretting and hiding the more ordinary moments of my life, and pretending as if it’s only made of good stuff, I’d like to share them for once. And, as you can see, even find the humor in it. Because we all have our challenges and our low moments. No one has a perfect life, no matter what they share on Facebook or Instagram. And if we can all understand that about each other, I think we’ll all be able to help each other out more and to find the positive in the ordinary.

By Oren Oppenheim