As I get ready to embark on one of my most significant walks so far, the walk across the stage to receive my high shool diploma, I thought it best to leave a little spark notes memoir of some advice I gathered, learned and cherished throughout my four years of high school. And yes, high school holds some great memories, but for me, it was a defining period of growth and maturity. It takes a lot of seeking, trying, failing, discovering and self-development to figure out who you are from freshman to senior year. While I am still in that process, I can positively say that my high school, although a tough four years, has in no doubt made me the person who is writing this today.
So...
this one's for you, students.
1. Don't ever let anyone tell you or make you think that you are too young to fall in love.
2. Take notes in church.
3. Spend Spring Break with your family.
4. Go on a mission trip. Journal while you're there.
5. Tell people about what you've learned.
6. Start an accountability group.
7. Exercise when you can, but don't let it take over your life or make you feel bad for eating a donut.
8. It's not too late to make a new friend.
9. Seek out the people who know more about your passions than you do.
10. Read.
11. Create a weekly get-together with your friends where you can get real with one another and discuss faith, family or Friday night football games.
12. Sometimes the week leading up to Homecoming is more exciting than the actual dance, so enjoy it. Dress up. Go all out.
13. Congratulate the kid who got into Harvard.
14. Congratulate the kid who got into community college.
15. Find your own special off-campus lunch restaurant and keep going there until the guy at the counter knows your name.
16. Spend the evening with your family every once in a while.
17. Hug your boyfriend and tell him you're proud of him. He needs to hear it.
18. Take a ridiculous amount of pictures and keep all of them.
19. Text your friend when they're sick.
20. Your mom is your best friend. Period.
21. Help clean up after dinner.
22. No matter your history, past mistakes, relationship status or career choice, you are worthy of love.
23. Make time for your siblings.
24. Home-made cards will never go out of style.
25. Get a job and don't be picky. Don't complain when you have that job.
26. Finals are important, but you can only do what you can do with the time that you have.
27. Join a club, it will look good on your resume.
28. Be who you needed when you were younger.
29. Do not judge someone by their Instagram and Twitter.
30. Stop worrying about the number of "likes" and post the damn Instagram picture if you want to.
31. If you can't do something about it in the next ten minutes, it's not worth stressing over right now.
32. Coffee is always a good idea. Try honey instead of sugar. (I promise you, it's good)
33. Never complain about being bored. Only boring people get bored.
34. Thank God for the things he did, the things he is doing and the things he has already put into effect for the future.
35. Get to know an artist. Listen to their perspective on the world.
36. Think of a thousand reasons why you never want to die and go tell someone who might have forgotten.
37. "Not all those who wander are lost." -JRR Tolkien
38. Bake pies with your grandma.
39. Appearance matters but make sure it's for the right reasons.
40. Do not be an Instagram Christian, be a Christian who can talk the talk and walk the walk outside of pictures of Bibles covered in pink ink and notecards with verses in pretty script.
41. If you need to clear your head, go on a run. Running is a proven therapy for depression. It works.
42. Life is too short to wear boring clothes.
43. Buy that Kate Spade purse you've always wanted. Don't regret it.
44. If you start to lose interest in a hobby you thought would never die, don't fret. That is God directing your heart towards something greater.
45. Seek your elders and allow their wisdom to pour into you.
46. There will be dark days, but there will be some really amazing days too.
47. Don't let crappy people waste your time and don't let dull conversation fill your head.
48. Do not let unfinished business stay unfinished, and always follow through if you say that you are going to do something.
49. Don't forget to breathe.
50. We are each other's medication. We are the cure. There are so many people that are yearning, reaching for a dose of hope and freedom, they just need someone to supply it for them. So lift, encourage, love and support.
A message to the class of 2016:
It's time for a change. We need a generation full of passionately driven, selfless seeking, crazy kids who know how to start something. Let's not just be another class that walks across that stage in May, ready to move on and begin anew. This is our last year. Let's not hold anything back.
Let's be a class that starts now in altering the norm and lighting a spark for the students below us, that can make it burn even brighter.
