You’ll wait your whole life to grow up. You’ll count day the days until you can drive, and graduate high school. But then suddenly, you’ll stop counting down. You’ll stop trying to waste the days, and start trying to savor them.

This is it. The last of everything; the last time you’ll park in the student lot, or eat in the cafeteria with your friends or fail that impossible math test. This is it.

If someone, anyone, would’ve just told me my first day of high school, that nothing compares to these moments maybe I would’ve enjoyed them a little more. Maybe I would’ve participated more or joined more clubs. But that’s the thing no one tells you when you first take those steps into the wide halls of high school, that these moments don’t last forever.

You’ll end up dreading every morning waking up before 8, and senioritis will be very real. But go to class, you’ll regret those days that you didn’t sit there. The naps and Netflix can wait, but those times in your hometown won’t.

In a blink of an eye, it will be December and you’ll be hearing back from colleges. You’ll decide in a few months where you’re going to spend the next four years, and then you’ll wonder ever day until you leave if you made the right choice. You’ll question if your friends will stay your friends and if you’ll even be smart enough to make it the first week. But take a breather, and remember you wondered the same things at the start of high school.

But with that being said, here’s a piece of advice before saying goodbye to everything; you are coming back. College isn’t goodbye, it’s just the start of something new. So, don’t be afraid of change, and don’t be afraid of the unknown. Trust me, I walked into college thinking I was going to hate it. I had the fears that I wasn’t going to make friends, and I wasn’t going to do well in classes. But suddenly, you’ll become best friends with your roommate, and you’ll be laughing about the dumbest things at 2 in the morning. You’ll spend all night hyped up on Red Bull cramming for an exam, and you’ll walk half a mile just to get ice cream. You’ll make a friend group that supports you, and encourages you, and the only worry on your mind will be how are you going to survive summer without them.

So, while you’re still in high school; go to prom, tell the boy who you’ve had a crush on forever that you like him, tell your friends your thankful for them, respect your teachers and try your best. You only get to go through high school once, but then remember college is high school times 100, the fun doesn’t end, and neither do the memories.