When I was a senior in high school I promised about 8 girls I was going to make them kits, survival kits to be exact. I'm not talking those "how to prep for the apocalypse" sort of thing, it was supposed to be a "how to survive high school" type of kit. And I fully intend to. Who doesn't want something like that? Let's be real, its not like you walk in on your first day of freshman year & are told to expect a few emotional breakdowns, a loss of a couple friends, and a major personal shift. We would all be so much better prepared. But at the present moment, I feel like the attention should be brought to something else.

Like most other people in this world, I use social media, and I try to cover all my bases. I like staying in the know, seeing whats going on in the world, and keeping in touch with people. Most people I have on social media are my age, in college, in a serious relationship, some single, some with jobs, some with kids, some married, some married with kids on the way, and some just stay home with their 8 cats and watch Netflix.

Ever notice how when you approach sophomore year, you can see the kids sort of break off into three categories?

• The kids who have always known what they wanted to be, have a plan, have their parents support, and are motivated
• The kids who's parents told them the plan the PARENTS made for them, and they decide, 'eh why not, let's run with it, it'll be an adventure
• The kids who have no idea wtf is going on and are just genuinely okay with taking some time to figure it all out.

I'm sorry, but hello, Dearest Department of Education? It's me.I'm going to hit the pause button and ask for your attention a moment. What. The. F**k.You sit us in a classroom 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 9 months a year, with a couple of vacation days in between, load us full of information, throw projects, multi-media presentations & essays at us with a vast list of rules and requirements, and send us home with an average of 4 hours of homework.

Do you take the time to realize that most kids in high school have jobs, after-school programs, or sports? Do you stop to realize that we come home after all these extra activities (which I'll bring up now, you tell us to join because it will strengthen our values, team building skills, attention to detail, and social skills) and then have to attack a pile of homework, which lands us going to bed around 12am-1am. You also then have us waking up at around 5:30am, and then we go back to school, where we learn how unhealthy it is to put that much stress on a growing teenager's body, and how we should get an average of 8 hours of sleep a night.

You yell at children who fall asleep in class, instead of maybe cutting them a break because you put too much on them. You make it seem like us getting C's is the end of the world because even though we are desperately grasping at straws to understand something we really don't, instead of trying to help, you tell us that its inadequate and our future will be impaired because of it. You assume that all kids learn the same, and make it seem like an inconvenience for you when a child doesn't learn the same way as the other 22 kids in the class. Okay. Cool.

Parents. Don't think for a second you are going to get skipped over. From the moment we let go of your hands and toddle into school on that first day, you see our future. You can't wait to watch us don that cap & gown and graduate, to become something great. You tell us that college is the ultimate goal, that we have the potential to be anything, to shoot for the stars. NO PRESSURE THERE.

How can you expect us to not go, because we think its what YOU want us to do. Please. Instead of cramming the general idea of college down your childs throat, take some time, really give yourself a chance to get to know them. Figure out their interests, what they're good at, help them set goals. Allow your child the time to figure themselves out. Think about who you were when you were 18 years old. Plenty of things have changed, but the fear of walking out into the real world and not be enough is still a very large and real fear. We love you. We honestly just want to make you proud of us.

Play.

You are allowed to take a break from college. You are allowed to go off to college right after you leave high school. Allow you to be YOU. Don't be your parents, don't do something because it's what your friends are doing. Be you. Find yourself. And I don't mean that in some corny bullshit, "Go sit in a garden and fast for 3 days and don't speak and do intense soul searching until your absolutely certain that you know what your purpose in life is" type of way. I mean wake your best friend up at 2 am to get McDonalds and drive to the nearest beach to watch the sunrise over the ocean. Go for a hike, and scream when you get to the top.

Embrace every little thing about yourself, imperfections and all. Become friends with someone you met in a theme park & hold onto that friendship. Play your music too loud and sing off key, hell, play the same damn song on repeat until you cant stand to hear even the name of it. Stay on the phone with someone you just met for 15 hours because it gives you both a chance to really get to talk. Take too many pictures, travel to New York City at 2 a.m. because you can, laugh until you cry, play the guitar until your fingertips throb, dance until your feet bleed....

and breathe.

This shit doesn't come with a manual. They aren't going to tell you that your first W2 form will probably make you nauseous, they don't tell you that you will ACTUALLY be eating Ramen noodles that often, because you'll be paying all your monthly bills and that will be just about all you can afford. They don't tell you that you're going to call your mom 46 times a day because you just really miss her voice and the way she smells like lavender and cocoa beans. They don't tell you how intimidating it is the first time you have to go to the doctors or the hospital alone,and suddenly you don't have someone answering all your medical questions for you. And they don't shed enough light on the fact, that at 19, after having it be GO GO GO GO GO;

You're allowed to hit pause.

Read some poetry

Go for a hike

Start a conversation with that cute waitress (or waiter)

Meditate ( its actually super fantastic)

Dance to the worst 90's music you can find

Create your future for yourself.

And when you're ready to jump...breathe deep

& hit play.