I remember being so excited to enter high school. Having different people in each class, free periods all to myself, and my very own locker seemed like the epitome of freedom after the sheltered Catholic grade school I had attended. But it turns out that all-girls Catholic high schools don’t offer much more freedom, nor do many high schools for that matter. I still had to adhere to strict uniform regulations, always sure to never reveal too much so as not to distract…who again? The anxiety was constant and my A’s were seen as average (one had to get a 93 percent in order to even get an A). So why was every adult telling me how much fun I should be having?

“These are the best years of your life!” was something I heard constantly. But the years before that were better for the most part. And though college has brought some new challenges, the schooling and environment themselves are much more to my liking. And that’s a huge relief; the thought that high school would be the best years of my life horrified me. Were things really going to be that bad in the future that this would seem like a blast? In high school, I didn’t go out much, I obsessed over perfect grades, and I despised being cooped up in one building all day.

The idea that these were the golden years was wildly false. The future seems so much exciting, though also more terrifying, than those four dreadful years. Maybe for some, high school is the best time of their life. Perhaps for others, it’s college, and maybe others have to wait a bit longer. I for one am grateful that I can keep wondering. Maybe those years are still to come.