Ah, high school. Friday night football games, endless dances, and lots of homework. Some would say it was the best four years of their lives and others the worst. While everyone has a different opinion on the fine years of high school, one thing will always remain the same— I do not miss it at all. Hear me out on my reasoning before you try to argue with me.
We are getting older now. Don't get me wrong, high school was amazing, fun, eye-opening, and a learning experience. And yes, of course for the first few months after graduating, and also the first few weeks of my first semester of college, I really did miss being confined to the same brick walls every day. Surrounded by familiar faces I grew up with and walking around with a secure friend group was always the best, but it had to come to an end at some point.
If we stayed at a high school level forever, we would never grow up.
We would have succumbed to horrible amounts of homework on mostly pointless topics, teenage-level drama, and mediocre school food. We would never mature into young adults with a drive to be successful, and we would never get to experience the freedom of college, adulthood, and starting our life paths.
As I grow older, I worry less about who from high school is doing what and more of what my path will be in life.
Instead of looking forward to Key Club meetings, I look forward to working to make money. Instead of spending hours trying to do homework for some subject that won't matter once I graduate, I'm worrying about doing work for REAL subjects, ones that help me work toward my degree in the major that I chose. Instead of looking forward to junior or senior prom, I'm dreaming of the day I get to walk down the aisle to say, "I Do," a day that isn't as far away as it used to be.
I don't look back on the past being that it's over now, and there's no turning back. I hold onto the memories of the past, but plan and dream of the future while it fastly approaches.
If you stay missing high school or in a high school mentality, you won't be able to clear your head enough to move on to the future or even live in the now.
Yes, of course, I love keeping in contact with some of the friends, teachers, or peers that I knew, but I don't sit around wishing I could go back in time and relive every moment, nor do I stay hung up on things that could have been changed or modified.
Some things are meant to be left in the past, and high school is one of them. It came and went faster than anyone could have imagined, but was all sealed up and closed the minute we crossed that stage and turned our tassels on graduation day.
Sometimes, I miss certain friends, teachers, or activities, but never to the point that I'm upset or wanting to go back. I just think of them/it, and then remember a great memory, story, or even picture associated with the person or thing.
Never be hung up on something you cannot change or go back and re-live.
The past is the past for a reason, and all we can do now is face forward and keep marching along every day until we make it to where we want to be.
Yes, I'm happy to have had a great high school experience, but now that I am older, I do not miss it anymore.