My freshman year of high school was quite possibly one of the worst years of my life.
I had been coming off of an 8th grade experience in which I was a top baseball player, elite student, budding guitarist and boyfriend of what most thought to believe an attractive girl. Not only was I set, I was confident that high school would be the next best four years of my life. But truly, I had no idea what I was getting into.
Within a matter of months, everything began to change. I was cut from the freshman baseball team. My grades dropped significantly. My band broke up and my girlfriend dumped me. This not to mention I lost the student council election, got rejected from the school newspaper and didn't even bother trying out for the bowling team after I desperately attended the informational meeting. I had everything I ever wanted for myself, and then I had nothing, just like that.
It would take a while - approximately three years - to truly find my place in those halls. I had lost all semblance of my identity as a student, as an athlete and as a person, and when I looked at myself in the mirror, I didn't like who I saw. It was a miserable space to be in, and I felt completely lost and without direction. And it is with a strong caution that I now enter an entirely new world all over again: the world of college.
Going to an elite academic school tends to mean that the students are coming from the top of their high school class and excel in fields beyond just the classroom. Everyone has a unique background and set of interests, all of which are factors in giving those individuals an identity, or a label they can give themselves. But as I found in high school, I'm starting to fear that these labels could become dangerous.
Sure, I think it's cool at times to be known as 'the sports writer' or 'the bible study leader guy', but these labels are things that can be easily taken away. They are dispensable titles that frankly won't be relevant years down the road. While I, among others, fall under the temptation to define myself solely by the activities that I do, it is simply unhealthy to live a lifestyle defined by a certain role.
It's early in the year and we're meeting new people every day, which is fantastic. But trying to leave a lasting impression, to make friends quickly and abundantly, often comes with the caveat of making yourself known as the person that you want to be perceived, the label that you want to see.
So as we carry on, let us not build our identities upon 'the [blank] guy' or 'the [blank] girl', because quite honestly - and this much is true - we're better than that.
