College is a place for a fresh start, somewhere where you can truly be yourself and a home away from home. Personally, college is the best thing to ever happen to me. I finally found a place where I can feel comfortable 24/7 and surround myself with genuine, funny and amazing people who only boost me up, not tear me down. It is a place where I am rid from any toxic friendships that were solely based on and forced from seeing each other for seven hours a day, five days a week.
College is "my time," whereas high school was the furthest thing from it. I'm not saying that high school is a terrible place, or that the friends you meet in high school aren't good ones BUT, at least for me, the majority of my friends in college that I've met so far, I know for certain are there for the long run, whereas there are only a couple of high school friends I know will be in my life. I am finally able to make choices that are for me, including choosing who to see and who not to see and include in my life.
If we are being honest, I never really enjoyed high school. Not because I was anti-social, or didn't have friends, or didn't go out or didn't do anything. No, I did all those things, and I did have friends. I just refused to accept the fact that, hmm, if someone claims to be best friends with someone else yet talks horribly about them behind their backs that it is magically "ok" and "normal." I think it is natural for high school age people (girls!!!) to be dramatic, absolutely. It's part of having hormones and being a teenager and growing up, but at the same time, at that age we are old enough to be conscious of the hurtful things we are saying and the judgements we are passing and all of the other negative things that may come out of our mouths. It should never be tolerated, but oddly enough, it was in high school by most.
High school was always a popularity contest. And if you weren't "in," you absolutely knew it. I knew what it was like to be on both sides of the street. I've sat alone at the lunch table before. I've been bullied and made fun of. I was hated by a group of individuals for reasons that I still do not know to this day and life sucked for a while. High school sucked for a while. I would dread going to school. I would never get invited to "anything." I had "no friends." When I didn't have those friends, which may have seemed miserable then, but in reality it was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
By being excluded from that group early on in high school, I was able to branch out and befriend people from all different cliques so that by the end, I had a plethora of friends, even including those "cool kids." I made amazing friends in the music/theatre department, became close with a lot of kids in my AP classes and got really involved in student government. It wasn't all about the drama, judgement, gossip, and he said/she said bullsh*t — it was genuine, welcoming and honestly very refreshing. The friends I made by branching out and straying away from the crowd are the type of friends I have looked for in my college friends: warmhearted, caring, accepting and unique individuals who could give two sh*ts what everyone else is doing.
By the end of high school, "cliques" were definitely still there but as a whole everyone seemed to get along. Some of my best friends were cheerleaders and other athletes, musicians, theatre kids, AP students or any combination of those, because they were good people! And that is how it should be. In college, it doesn't matter who you were in high school or what you like to do, but rather how you treat people.
I spend the majority of my time on breaks with my college friends, not because I don't love my high school friends, but because high school was just a stepping stone in life, and something in the past that shaped me into the person I am today. There are a few people I keep in touch with and hang out with from high school, but for me, I don't want to go back! It's OK to like college better, in fact, it's probably better for you to look forward than back. I find that a lot of people who are still stuck in their glory days of high school struggle with communicating, branching out and connecting with new people in college or even life in general (which is a crucial skill in the workforce as well as socially!).
Someone may have been a big fish in a little pond, but they will be a small fish in a big pond in college, just like everyone else ...
... and some of them won't know how to handle it.
So, to my high school friends: Thanks for the memories, good and bad, and good luck with everything you do in your life. And to the few of you that have remained close friends: I love you. Thank you especially for getting me through those four years and for continuing on this crazy journey of life with me.
And to my college friends: you're the funniest, kindest, weirdest and most amazing people I have ever met in my life. I'm so happy to finally be experiencing the "best four years of my life" and finally feel at home without judgement. I love you all endlessly.
It's your life, people. Do what makes you happy and most importantly surround yourself with people that make you happy.
