Before I really get into it, full disclosure: my senior year of high school was kind of a long time ago. I’m a sophomore in college now and I also took a gap year (stay tuned for that blog), so memories of three whole autumns ago are a little fuzzy. But I really do remember what people said to me before my senior fall.
It’s a common refrain:“You must be SO stressed. You must have SO MUCH WORK and on top of it you are also APPLYING TO COLLEGES. Oh, man. You are probably not sleeping AT ALL. Your hair must be GOING GRAY AND FALLING OUT IN CLUMPS because you are SO stressed by all the WORK you have to do for SCHOOL. And when I say ‘SCHOOL,’ I mean both CURRENT SCHOOL and POTENTIAL FUTURE SCHOOL.”
Here’s the issue with all that nonsense: since grown adults were saying it to me, I actually took it a little bit to heart and felt that I should be a twitchy mess all the time. I wish I had done better in taking care of myself and my friends. I wish I had spent more time outside. It’s so easy to doggedly pursue the vague image of the future at the expense of the reality of the present.
My friends and me at the beach our senior fall. <3
Not that my high-school life was a non-stop thrill ride, or anything. I think there’s obviously academic pressure as a senior but there’s also social pressure. Actually, let’s just make a list of all the things I felt like I should do before high school was over:
1.) Maintain a flawless GPA.
2.) Get into every college I applied to and also know immediately which one I wanted to go to.
3.) Go on a road trip with my best friends.
4.) Run out of gas on said road trip and have to camp in the wilderness.
5.) Realize that I have feelings for my handsome-but-quiet friend Jake as I watch him deftly handle the wilderness situation.
6.) Confess my feelings to Jake and–what’s this??–he’s felt the same way this WHOLE TIME.
7.) Kiss and marry Jake!!!!
Now let’s run down how it actually played out. I did not have a 4.0 in high school. I was not accepted at the majority of colleges I applied to. I never went on a road trip. I made up Jake. He does not exist at all.
BUT.
I was taking incredible classes. I was with my beloved friends and family. And everything worked out great. I am so happy now but I wish I had appreciated that last year at home a little more.
Seniors–I’m not qualified to give you any advice. I am only twenty years old and I almost cried today because a very big kind dog named Lou let me scratch his nice ear. But I hope you all will take some time to give yourselves a tiny round of applause for making it this far. You deserve it, seriously.
