People say that “high school is the greatest time of your life,” but I feel like if that’s true then some people are going to have a really pitiful time for the next 50 years or so. I sincerely hope that my high school years are not the best that I’ll ever have; I mean, high school is okay and all, but it has a lot of ups and downs. There would be times when my classes were so easy I was almost bored and other times when I wanted to pull my hair out in frustration. And for a few months I could have a period where it seems like I’m happy all the time and nothing can get me down. My friends and I will stay up until 6 in the morning being totally weird, go bowling and make fun of how atrocious we are, try Thai food for the first time and rent scary movies to watch but fall asleep about half an hour through; a few months after that something could happen and I could go through a stage where I feel bad about myself, have low self-esteem, get really busy and stressed out and/or want to shut myself in my room all day and never leave.

But even through the difficult times during high school it’s necessary to remember that no matter how hard it gets, there will always be something to look forward to in the future. When you’re at the bottom, it can only go up from there and your situation will get better eventually. Don’t dwell on the negatives and remember that there are good aspects to your life. When you feel like becoming a shut in and wallowing in self-pity, choose instead to go out with your friends and forget about the pain for a little while. It’s bound to make you feel a little bit better, at least for a little while.

Also, to be honest, the memories students take with them aren’t going to be how many honors classes they took or whether or not they got a B in that one class sophomore year. Too many students put too much pressure on themselves to have a 3.9 GPA instead of a 3.8 or to be in the top 5% instead of the top 10. Don’t stress if you didn’t ace that final project or get a perfect score on that essay. Everything will be okay.

Overall, as cheesy as it sounds, high school is a time to grow and figure out who you really are. I know that I have changed drastically in the time from the beginning of freshman year to now. I feel that who I am now is a completely different person than who I was when I was 14 (which is a good thing). And while I’m looking forward to going off to college and starting a new phase of my life, I’m also terrified. I’m terrified of not having anywhere to retreat and be completely alone if I need to have an emotional breakdown, that I won’t make any new friends, and that my classes will be way more difficult than I’m anticipating. But even though fear is sometimes crippling, it’s necessary sometimes to take a leap of faith and try something new; I’m choosing to believe that this next stage in my life is full of promises and good things to come. And I’m going to choose to keep myself in that mindset no matter what happens.