Hello Creators!
Today I want to share with you a little bit of insight I have on high school. I’ve gone through five years of it (In New Orleans, high school starts in 8th grade), and I know as well as anybody that it is a long and hard journey. I don’t agree with the saying that “high school years are the best of your life” because they are just years. You will make many memories, and go through many firsts. But this isn’t exclusive to high school! You don’t stop experiencing life after high school. So while I don’t think you should stress to make high school the best time of your life, I think these tips will help you make the most of it.
1. High School Lasts Much Longer Than You Think It Will.
As a freshman I think I was under the impression that High School would just fly by me and I wouldn’t have nearly enough time do anything. This is so far from the truth I can’t even explain it.
Letter to myself on this:
You don’t have to worry about dating or joining the dance team or loading yourself with clubs right now! You have four more years to think about these things. Don’t rush your life and try and do everything all at once. Don’t date that boy, you will regret it. Don’t join dance team, you know you don’t want to. You don’t need to be a part of a team to fit in at school.
2. The things you are worried about now will not even affect you when you are a senior
This is at least 80% true. Every year, our school had us write letters to ourselves and we read them at our senior retreat. I remember thinking when I wrote them that I would be crying as I read them and that everything in life would just be awful. In reality, I laughed the whole time. I couldn’t believe how minuscule these problems actually were.
Letter to myself on this:
Don’t freak out. Life gets better and you will realize what things are actually important. You will figure out who you need to keep in your life, and who you can let go of. You will go through a really hard period and that’s okay. Don’t give up.
3. Do your homework idiot.
To be completely frank, freshman me was an idiot. I would not do homework, I would not study, I would just sit in bed and read fan fiction and other poorly written books online. I would ignore my school priorities and I regret every second of it. My GPA dropped significantly this year, I received my FIRST EVER C, and I didn’t care.
Letter to myself on this:
Don’t be an idiot. Do the work you need to do now so that when you are a senior you can relax a bit. Please.
4. Don’t take your friends for granted.
When I was a freshman, I would often ignore my friends and their attempts to help me. They knew I was going through a rough time and they often reached out to em to offer help. But I didn’t want their help, I thought I was strong enough to handle everything on my own. Spoiler alert: everybody needs friends.
Letter to myself on this:
Call your friends when you are freaking out. Tell them what you are thinking, tell them what you need them to do. They want to help you, and eventually you will need to repay them for that. There will come a time where you really need them and want to reach out to them, but you won’t know what to say or how to ask because you never did it when they offered.
5. Don’t let high school just pass you by
I know this is contradictory to point 1, but hear me out. As a senior, I can look back on every decision I made and realize that there are definitely things I could have said no to, but even more that I should have said yes to. I was too focused on the stupid little things (like relationships) and I barely had time to do things I genuinely enjoyed.
Letter to myself on this:
You need to realize that in the moment, time will feel much longer than when you look back in a few years. You have plenty of time in the moment to do everything you want, so do it! You don’t want to look back and regret the no’s you did say. Use your judgement and do what makes YOU happy.
6. Catholic School Does Not Dictate Your Life
I grew up in a catholic family, going to catholic school all my life; and I always knew that there was something a little off. I knew I didn’t necessarily agree with everything I was being taught. I thought that this was bad, that I was “sinning” for not believing everything. I could go on forever about what my beliefs are specifically, but for the purposes of this post I’ll keep it to a minimum.
Letter to myself on this:
God loves you no matter what, that’s kind of his whole deal. Don’t let other people tell you otherwise.
That's all I have for you today. In the comments below, tell me which of these tips is most helpful for you!
As always, keep creating!