High school is a warzone. You can walk in the hallway and have a bad hair day, and people will judge you for no reason. High school is all about fitting in and being the most popular. At least, that’s how it felt for me. I had a ton of homework every night, I did not fit in, and I did not have many friends. I had some amazing friends that I still have today, but for some reason, I did not feel accepted. I’m “different,” and I have been different for all of my life. In middle school and high school, I was not okay with being different. I judged myself even harder than any other student could. I tried to be “perfect.” Now high school is beyond me and I feel much more accepted in college.

I was looking on Facebook the other day, and I came across this annoying meme. I was ticked off by this and so I decided to write an Odyssey article about it! The meme is:

This meme is diminishing the success of high school graduates. Excuse me, but when did graduating high school become not a big deal? High school is hard. I know what this meme is trying to say. Being an adult is hard work because you have to finish college, find a job, find a place to live, and manage your finances. But I believe that every stage of life has its own challenges. Do you remember when you were a small child and you didn’t know how to tie your shoe? Or you didn’t know how to ride a bike and saw all the other kids ride? These challenges may seem miniscule now but trust me, at that age, those struggles were hard. The struggle was in fact very real. Congratulations to all high school graduates! You did it! No one and nothing should diminish that achievement. You fought the war and you won. Congratulations!