As stupid as it seemed, before I graduated high school May of 2012, I was terrified of what life after graduation would be like. Which is dumb because I knew that there was life and that it was completely capable of surviving or else humankind wouldn't be in existence. I remember every single time I went to the guidance counselor I was complaining about how after high school I was probably just dying because life afterwards was basically just a cover up by the Matrix and graduation is like taking the pill and there was no hope or will to live after the illusion shatters. Poor Mrs. Edwards...
I mean, after all, why would I want to leave the comfort of high school? My entire life I was hearing people say how those four years would be the "best years" of my whole entire life. And what would I do without the friends that I had, who literally knew everything about my past? And I mean, like, leaving high school meant moving out of my parents' house and having to pay bills and falling in and out of love for real and getting a job and being an adult, right? Like, I had to enter the dog-eat-dog "real world" and be an adult. And let's be honest: who wants that?
But, let's be honest about high school. It was full of really stupid, cliche and off-the-wall drama and insults that made the already "difficult" transition that much worse. The movies made people want to fill into what social norms for high schools should be and stereotypes ran rampant through the hallways while you were probably the kid who sat in the back of the class and hated every. single. one. of your classmates who were following the stupid paradoxical thought processes that plagued those classrooms. Sure, there were the few "good" friends you had, who, now that you think of it, don't talk to you anymore. But other than that, high school was like hell. There's the awkward and ugly phase pictures plastered all over every single social networking site that was in at the time and totally embarrassing stories of when you first got your period in seventh grade during gym class while wearing white shorts. Totally didn't happen to me, but we've all heard that story at least once, am I right?
Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that high school is never what you think it was when you were in it. It will never be the best four years of your life. And, yeah, you might have some really cool friends now, but in ten years when you show up to your high school reunion, the conversations are going to be stale and written on note cards because you've "lost contact" when really you just grew apart and moved on and stopped caring about your small town drama.
Now that I've been in college for a solid year and a half, thinking about high school literally makes me want to cringe. In college, you don't have to worry about what your best friend is saying about you behind your back, who is dating whom after just breaking up with the starting quarterback or--DO I DARE SAY IT--what you're wearing to class. You don't have to think about the monotone lectures of your high school teachers about what the real world entails and you definitely don't have to deal with godawful cafeteria food. Plus, girls don't just stop walking in the middle of the hallway and make you late for class. The guys don't make tons of penis jokes (unless you're in the gaming community like I am; not even kidding, those guys don't get out much...) and sexual innuendos. Your pictures are classy and there's always fun stuff to do and your parents can't tell you what to do and when to do it. And egad, you're actually starting to learn how to finance your money and be in the real world without intentionally doing it. You'll finally have people with similar interests to yours and lots of different viewpoints and broad horizons to meet and conversate with. Finally, no one knows your past so they can't judge you for your extremely stupid decisions in the past.
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Moments like this were great in high school, but I barely talk to two of these
people anymore, and the other one is my sister, so I'm stuck with her. I would
Never trade in a moment like this one, but I'm not going to let it anchor me in
place. There is life after high school and high school memories.
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I'm getting really off topic here. Basically, the entire lesson is that high school will never define your life. It will literally not matter whether or not you wore Hollister every single day to class or not, if you went through a bad phase in high school where you were depressed or if you bullied someone. In college, high school will never define you unless you refuse to let it go. And in fact, college will never define who you are in the "real world". Your life is a growing experience and you're going to change throughout it. And that's super awesome. Just don't let it stress you out like it stressed me in high school. Don't think that the "real world" is a strict set of rules and you have to sign a waver because *SPOILER ALERT* nobody knows what they're doing, either.
John Mayer basically sums this up the most: "There's no such thing as the real world. It's just a lie you have to rise above."
Enjoy your high school experience, but please don't let it anchor you into your fears and just live your life how you want to.
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