News flash: High school is not the best 4 years of your life.

Graduating from high school and leaving the state after was one of the best things that happened to me. During high school, it felt like everything that happened was so important, because that was my entire world. When that one boy started dating someone else, the world was over because there were no other decent guys. When that girl said something nasty about you, your life was over because everyone believed her. You only had so many friends, and you just had to keep them all.

High school sets up such a stupid mentality, at least it did for me. Everything was so dramatic. It felt like the only people in the world were the people at my school, and I had to care what they thought.

I'm a much happier person in college. I feel academically challenged (which is mostly a good thing) and my life is much less dramatic. I have a few friend groups I like to bounce between, and I'm working on my life. It's cheesy, but it feels like I'm finally living my life. In high school, I wasn't doing anything for the future, besides getting good grades to get into college. Now I'm building a resume and discovering my passions.

So why am I saying don't peak in high school?

Because high school sucks. Sure I have good memories from it. I'm still close with several people from my high school, and I enjoyed some of my time there. But high school sucks. It's so dramatic, the public education system is flawed, and you're changing. Every year of high school I could look back on who I was a year ago and smile knowing that I wasn't the same person. I evolved and became a less angry dramatic person. Who I was freshman year is so different from who I was senior year.

So I'm saying don't peak in high school because you don't want to be done there. Even if you have a great time, that doesn't mean you can't keep growing. You're only 17-19 years old when you graduate, and you've hopefully got 50+ years ahead of you. It would be tragic if those next 50 years were all downhill.

It's sad when people my age, only a few years out of high school, are already talking about the good days and missing high school. Sure it had its moments, but now we're in the "real world". I love the independence and freedom. I feel more in charge of my life now and I wouldn't go back for anything.

Don't stop having fun and accomplishing things in life. Prom queen or a winning touchdown shouldn't be your last big accomplishment. Show up at that 10-year reunion as a new person who's done so much in the last 10 years.

Life's too long to peak in high school.