An open letter to my younger self before prom,

As someone who has been to four proms in my life, I think I can consider myself an expert.

I wish I could go back in time to warn my 17 and 18 year old self about the dangers of prom season. Such as why I should not have convinced my mom (and let's face it, myself) that I needed a ball gown because "I'll wear it more than once" which turned out not to be true and I have the pictures to prove it.

I would love to be able to tell my younger self that it is just a dance. And despite what I thought while spending 40 minutes on my eye shadow, it was not the most important day of my high school career. I wish I would have recognized that studying for the ACT was way more important, and beneficial to my future, than picking out shoes to match my dress.

I wish I could warned myself not to look at dresses online when I could have been studying or looking at colleges. I could have done so many other things to prepare for college and my future, but instead I wasted time worrying about a dance.

I spent so much time shopping for dresses and shoes, looking at hair and makeup ideas on Pinterest, and plotting my "promposal" that I was too busy to realize that theses dances would not matter to me once I started college, and that in the span of two years I would lose touch with every single person in my prom group.

Overall, I had a pretty good experiences at my proms, but nothing compared to the experiences I have had at college. The friends I have made, the professors that have challenged and inspired me, and the memories I have made.

And looking back I know that prom is not worth the expenses. From the dress and insisting that my hair needed to be professionally done, and that everyone insists on going to a nice restaurant, it can become very costly.

I am glad that I went because I do think prom is a right of passage. It is something that you can only experience your last two years of high school, unless you're a really attractive sophomore or freshman. But it was definitley not worth the amount of time, planning, and energy.