High school entails some of the most defining years in your life. It’s a time when you learn a lot about yourself—your interests, your skills, meeting people who will remain in your life forever and more. TV shows and media portrayals try to paint a positive picture where these four years will be filled with parties, classes and teachers you love and extravagant adventures that are stories to be told. However, they fail to mention the various expectations, like academic pressure and social standards, that often overshadow the moments that made your time enjoyable. We hope high school was the TV-like experience you dreamed of, but if it wasn’t, that’s okay. With your whole future ahead of you, high school does not have to be the best four years of your life. Even if you didn’t get the experience you had hoped for or expected, it does not dictate what your future looks like.
No two high school experiences are the same. If you take a moment to look at your surroundings in a classroom, you will find a very diverse collection of people- diverse in their values, situations and experiences. While you discover who you are, everyone else is doing the same, and what each person uncovers is unique to that individual. Because of this, what’s important to some students will not be the same to others, and what you take away from these years will vary from your peers. Recognize with this that the frontal lobe of your brain, which controls your personality and thought, is not fully developed until you’re 25 years old on average, according to the National Institutes of Health. So, past high school, you are socially, emotionally and biologically changing, which can make your future life better by improved social interactions and environment. While your personality may not have been compatible with an ideal high school life, it is still changing and may correlate with future happiness in other ways.
To others, Tom Brady is defined by his success on the football field. Albert Einstein is defined by his discovery in science. Oprah Winfrey is defined by her success in social influence and connecting networks of voices. Think about a role model in your life- why are they an example of what you want to be? It is likely not because of their high school accomplishments. While Brady, Einstein and Winfrey are idols to many for their respective reasons, it is not because of what they did in high school, but because of what they were able to achieve throughout their careers. If high school was not relevant for what they are known for, it does not have to be for you. Moreover, think of college as a fresh start. Nobody knows your name, where you came from, or what you were/your life was like in high school; and frankly, they usually don’t care. Your new peers will get to know you from your college years, not what was previous. Both in your long-term legacy and short-term future, your high school experience has little bearing on what you want the rest of your life to look like.
The high school experience treats many very well. It prepares you for future endeavors and helps students grow into young adults. However, not everyone shares the same sentiment of joy and gratefulness for these years. In both cases, it is important to reflect on what you can take away from your from these years while noting that your future is not dependent on how they went. The growth you made in high school is not supposed to stop when you leave, but continue as you reach the expanded opportunities the world brings you as an adult. Whether or not these past four years will be ones you will reminisce about, or ones you want to leave behind, the rest of your life remains ahead of you to find the happiness and promise you desire.
