If I were to describe my high school experience in one word, it would be chaotic. Not only was high school some of the best times of my life (so far), but it was also some of the worst. From losing and gaining friends to finding myself and discovering my path, it was a whirlwind of events. However, I’m grateful for all the good and TERRIBLE experiences as they taught me so SO many things.
Starting off, I would like to say that in no way was I perfect throughout high school. Just like everyone else, I made a lot of mistakes and poor choices. But thankfully I took those mistakes and learned from them (unlike a good majority of people who kept repeating those mistakes and never changed). If you want to grow as a person, you have to be willing to accept the moments when you’re wrong. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but until you take responsibility for your actions you remain ignorant to what the world wants to teach you. Now I’m not saying I learned this right away. Freshman, sophomore, and a little bit of junior year were rough.
Boys. Horrible. Awful. Not exactly worth talking about, but as a teenage girl your mindset is that they’re everything. But in reality, they’re just boys. My worst mistake was changing who I was to fit what a boy wanted me to be. I felt as if my worth was based on whether or not the specific boy I liked paid attention to me. I can’t stress enough how awfully wrong this was. No matter what I changed or how I acted it was never enough and never would be enough. I questioned everything about myself constantly asking, “Why am I not good enough?” This went on for years and years. I only realized the emotional and mental damage mid-way through junior year. It took me a while to understand that I was always more than good enough. Unfortunately, most guys throughout high school don’t have enough emotional maturity to handle girls or are simply only out for one thing. The best advice I can give when it comes to the topic of boys and navigating through the messiness is don’t ever EVER change yourself for them. If they don’t want you and accept you for who you are, they aren’t the one. Also set high standards for how you want to be treated and if they aren’t met, move on. Don’t waste time on someone who won’t treat you how you deserve to be treated. The right one comes when you aren’t looking, so don’t stress yourself out even more worrying about having a boyfriend. It’s also okay to be alone.
Friends. My experiences with friends have taught me the most. From freshman year up to senior year, it has been one long rollercoaster ride. I’ve found myself in many different friend groups and going back and forth between the same friends. To me, it seemed like each friend I had throughout the different eras I went through were meant only for that time. They were in my life for a specific reason. The most important thing to keep in mind is that not everyone is meant to be in your life forever. The friends that I had freshman and sophomore year were short term. They helped me get through some really hard times and taught me that being yourself is okay. But we weren’t meant to be friends for longer than that. Don’t go into a friendship with the mindset that it won’t last because that’s not always the case, but don’t fall apart if you have friends who are short term. You’ll miss out on the lessons and growth. The most important thing I’ve learned is that you don’t need a lot of friends to be happy. If you have one GREAT friend who you can enjoy life with, that’s all you need. You could have ten friends and all nine of them could be the most fake and self centered, but the other one is probably the most loyal and the overall better friend.
There’s a lot more to be said about what I’ve learned throughout the years, but I figured I shouldn’t write more than a couple hundred words. Enjoy high school while you have time. Make mistakes and learn from them. Thank god I’m outta here.