5 Things You Learn During Senior Year Of High School

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People will tell you millions of times that high school will fly by. As every day dragged on trapped in a four-walled classroom with a teacher rambling on about a subject I didn’t care about, I started to believe less and less that high school would ever end. The list of friendships I lost grew longer and I remember praying and praying that it could all just be over so I could leave these people and all their bullshit behind. In doing all of this I failed to realize how fast time was passing. I was so eager to get out and move on that I sometimes forgot to enjoy. High school is not the best four years of your life for most individuals but it is still a valuable part of our experience in life. I learned many things in the last weeks alone that I wish I had known the entire time.

1. What people think of you says more of them than it does of you.

We waste so much of our time trying to gain popularity and power than ignoring the opinions of others. It is a part of being young but it does not have to dictate your life. For all the time I wasted worrying about the boy with nice eyes in math class, I could’ve been making more memories with people who actually mattered. The only opinion that does matter or will ever matter is your own. If people think you’re weird or don’t get you, OH WELL, it will be you laughing your ass off making millions while they’re all living unhappy lives.

2. Just Forgive Already

The whole concept of forgiveness might seem completely foreign to some people, especially those grudge holders like myself. I’m going to tell you right now every single little fight you got in with your high school best friend will not matter five years from now. Forgiveness is key to happiness, if you had the ability to get rid of physical pain wouldn’t you do that right away? It’s just like ripping off a band-aid, admitting your wrong isn’t easy for anyone but your time with these people is too short to waste it upset over the stupid boy next door.

3. Life is too short

You think you have all this time in the world with your best friends these people you truly believe will be your friends forever. The reality is in a year you will all be off in new places with new faces having new adventures that are “you had to be there moments” you will never get this time back. I spent so much time grudge holding that I failed to realize how incredible these people were before it was almost too late. You only have now, so talk to the cute boy in your math class, make friends outside your core group. One of my most respected friends now is a girl I hated with everything I had as a Freshman, if our paths hadn’t been forced together again I would’ve held onto that grudge until the day I graduated. There will come a time when it’s too late, regret nothing because in the end you’ll regret what you didn’t do more than what you did.

4. BE DIFFERENT!

If you are 18 or under you have definitely used the excuse “well everyone else is doing it” and I’ll admit I’ve done it too. But I will tell you one really big secret, there is more power in being a rose in a pumpkin patch then there is just being another needle in the haystack. Everyone is afraid of stepping apart from the crowd and making a life for themselves that is completely individual, but this is how you become noticed and respected. In the future making impressions become key to your success, you can’t make a good impression if you’re too busy being just like everyone else.

5. Make Mistakes, tons of them

There is this huge fear of failure when you are young, but every single mistake I had the courage to make helped me so much as a person. Failing is the only way to learn how to make it right. Being too afraid of making a mistake or failing is a sure way to never make one and it’s also a sure way to never learn any lessons worth learning. If you want to do something that’s dumb and sounds ridiculous, DO IT (smart and safe only please).

You only get to be young and dumb once, high school and senior year will fly by no matter how much the people suck. It is all one giant learning experience and will probably not be the best four years of your life. Either way by the end of it all you will regret the people you didn’t get to know and the moments you didn’t seize, so do it while you still can.