A few days after I graduated high school, I took my yearbooks, my cap and gown, and my cross country sweats and put them all in a box. That box currently resides in a closet at my mom’s place. A month into the summer before my first year at college, I stopped talking to people from high school. I don’t know if it was because I had two jobs that summer, or lost all interest in general. A month into my first semester at college, I was so consumed by college that I was surprised when I ran into an old friend from my graduating class. I haven't talked to that person since that accidental meeting.

The topic of “peaking in high school” has been a widely discussed topic for me for several reasons. I don’t fully understand what “peaking” means. Is it finding more success in high school than any other time in your life thus far? Is it being so popular that your name, regardless of how common it is, is easily recognizable by the student body?

Like many things, I’ve tried looking through Google to find the definition of “peaking in high school.” In all the websites that discussed it, many were listicles of how you can tell that you did in fact "peak". I’ve come to realize it’s the kid in high school that managed to get everyone on his/her side on an argument. In an overall distinct generalization, the ones who peaked in high school were the ones who viewed high school as some of the best times of their lives.

I didn’t peak in high school.

I was nominated for Winterfest Queen, but that’s not something I’m going to put on my resume. I edited a 320-page book, but the skills I learned from it matter more than the actual accomplishment. I took AP and Honors class, but many of those credits didn’t even transfer when I attended college. I got a varsity letter for cross country, but what does that mean to me now? None of these meant I “peaked.” All these accomplishments just mean that, somehow, I made a name for myself and now I have to do it all over again in college.

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly get nostalgic for some moments. I miss sitting in the yearbook room that I habitually called my room, working on the 320 pages while clutching onto the yearbook teddy bear that comforted me in the midst of deadlines. However, I certainly don’t consider it to be a part of my life right now. I hold onto the skills yearbook provided and miss putting them into good use, but I can’t say I would go through it all over again.

Would I go as far as say that high school was the time of my life and I would do it all over again if I could? Definitely not. College is interesting because who you were in high school doesn’t matter. On a campus of 20,000 people, it doesn’t matter what you used to do. What matters now is how you use those skills in college in your undergraduate career.

Peaking in high school will never be for everyone. Not only is the definition subjective, but it also depends on how the person saw high school. It’s okay to wake up one morning and realize that you absolutely hated high school. Sometimes, you just realize that the thing that caused you to grow significantly is also the thing that hindered you the most. For others, high school provided many opportunities that catalyzed their lives. Whatever you prefer, whether it be high school or college, just remember that our perspectives of the past can always be disoriented by the struggles of the present.

While it is OK to be nostalgic, don’t go chasing for a bliss that only exists in a certain period of your life.