It was a beautiful end of winter, almost spring, day. My younger cousin was running late to school, so I offered to drive her to school. I needed to run some errands anyway, so this made me stop procrastinating and get out of the house sooner.
I pulled up to her house, she hopped in the car, and then we were off to her school. It was all very normal, except for the fact that she was very quiet. My cousin is not a quiet girl, and for her to just jump into my car with minimal talking was very odd. I give it a moment to see if she wanted to initiate a conversation, but nothing happened.
My sister begins to ask her how she is and how she is doing in school, but all we got was one-word answers.
"Good."
"Fine."
Hm. Okay? Weird.
I decided to ask her what was bugging her and boy did that open a can of worms. She went off with how she is stressed with her class requirements. She isn't sure if she should be in all honors classes or take a few AP courses. She does not have a clue about what she wants to do with her life. She wants to just enjoy high school, but she is worried about college.
I asked her if her friends worry about this stuff, too. She told me yes, but not as much because they have a plan. They know what they want to do. She said she has no idea what to do.
This shocked me and my sister. Our little cousin was so stressed about college, and she is only a freshman. When my sister and I were in high school, we did not worry about college until junior year. Even then, we were not this stressed about it.
By the time she was done expressing her stress, we were at her school. It is only a 15-minute drive, so we could not have a whole discussion about this. I told her everything will work out and to not worry this much, then wished her a good day at school.
I know she is probably not the only freshman in high school, let alone the only high school student, who is worried about their future. Because of that, I want those who feel this way to know this.
It is okay not to know. You are young and you do not have to know right now what you are doing or where your life is going. You're not the only one who seems lost and those who seem to have it together probably don't.
There are people in college who don't even know what they want to do. There are people in college who had a game plan but took that one class that they loved so much and changed their major because of it.
Enjoy life. Enjoy where you are and what you are doing right now. Try not to focus on the future because the future can be scary. Take it a day at a time. Breathe.
There is no timeline that we all have to follow. There is no checklist that must be done by the time we are 21. Milestones happen at different points in life for everyone. Everything will work out when it is time.
When that time comes for you, you will succeed and be the best you can be.
