Branch Out.

There's definitely something in the air during senior year where everyone becomes so complacent with their same group and no one really has to motivation to extend a warm welcome to other people in their class, or even the interest in establishing new friendships over the last year of high school. Now I'm not saying that every senior needs to drop what they're doing at this current moment and make five new friends, but you'll be starting a whole new chapter of your life, most likely away from the same seven people you see on a daily basis, so slowly learn how to be more receptive to opening yourself up to new people or new, exciting activities. Life is all about the next adventure and being able to adapt to new environments will allow you to truly find yourself and discover a different side to yourself you never thought even existed.

Spending Quality Time with Others.

I cannot stress this one enough. Your senior year will fly by so fast and it'll be graduation before you know it. So make each moment with your friends and family count. It's time to end the habits of communicating solely through our phones and engage in genuine face-to-face conversation. Just hours before I head out on a plane to my new home, spending my last hours with my family and truly being present in the moment with them was extremely difficult because my mind was so preoccupied with other thoughts. However, I just needed to remember to step outside of myself and realize that my family will always be a constant in my life and these next four, exciting years will come and go, but my family will always be there to support me.

Allow Yourself to Get Excited for New Adventures.

Though senior year was my favorite out of the past four years of high school, I found myself spending so much time focused on my next step and my decision-making that I often forgot to allow myself time to wind down and breathe for a moment. Do not let your anxieties cloud your judgement or your ability to be carefree and have fun in the present. Follow your heart and you will be lead down the path that you were meant to be on. From my experience over this past year and witnessing my best friends end up at their first, second, or even last choice schools and each one of them just as excited as the last, I've witnessed the true definition of "ending up where you're meant to end up".