Middle school is a time in our lives we often tend to block out. Let's be honest, the only way you can describe this period of time is "awkward as hell". I mean suddenly your body is going through all these dramatic changes, dating isn't some weird icky thing anymore and school seems to be so difficult (just wait till high school younger me). We all had a lot of slip ups, but here are some of the more common mistakes we can all brood over.
1. Making friends with toxic people.
Meeting new people is a fun part of middle school, but be warned, not all friends are your actual "friends". Not everyone is going to be there for you in your time of need and not all friendships are built to last either. Don't surround yourself with negative people or those people that are always trying to be one-up you. A little competition is healthy in a friendship, you shouldn't end up arguing in the middle of the hallway about who had a worse day (I've seen it happen before, it does actually happen). Even if it may not seem like it, you will eventually find a loyal and trusting friend.
2. Slacking off in a class, only to regret it later.
We do all get a little lax in middle school and end up slipping a bit in a class. We complain and make excuses about everything. It happens to the best of us. Unfortunately, there is hell to pay when you slack off so badly that you bomb a test. It kind of hurts to stare dead into the eyes of that large, red F adorning the top of your paper. Even worse, if what you failed your test on comes back later in your school career, like math, have fun being haunted by it in the later years!
3. When you did that one thing to your hair or outfit because you had convinced yourself that it was "in".
Hear me out here, it may have looked hot when you first saw it, but you probably can't hold back the cringe fest that ensues now that you look back at old pictures or even think about the horror you went through. Think about it this way, at least now your friends have great blackmail on you.
4. Being pressured into doing things we didn't want to do.
This can either end on a good note or a bad note. A friend of yours may have pressured you into joining a club and next thing you know, you've met your future best friend. For some reason, there was always so much pressure to date someone, which is why most middle school relationships only lasted a week. It's okay, though, we won't consider it your first "official" relationship. Dating that one friend that wasn't really a crush, but just a close friend does bring back some awful memories. And the breakup? Don't even get me started.
5. Caring so much about what other people think of you.
We all put too much thought into other people's opinions of us, even going as far to let some people step over us to be liked. We were young and still finding out who the heck we even were and where we were going. It didn't seem safe to be different. but conforming to everyone else will only make life boring. We should never try to "fit in" for the sake of our own happiness. Letting out your inner persona, no matter how different it is from the social norms, is just one step on the path of accepting yourself.
