I’m here to tell you the truth about what high school taught me and my one year experience of being out of high school.

A thought I had back then in high school, is, “I swore I was going to marry him someday.” My first “love.” That was the only thing I could focus on during my four years of high school, even when we weren’t together. It was a daily annoyance, to be honest. But, after high school you realize those relationships you had during those four years were the setting stone of the purpose behind the qualities you would want to have in your future boyfriend one day. The broken relationships from high school do not have to haunt you anymore. So, stop wishing he was yours again and pick up your pretty head. Get your feet back on the ground, and stand. It’s a boy not a man. Learn that real fast girl, it will save you from a lot of heartache. I can promise you this: the more you become who you are supposed to be and stop searching for a love, the more love will come to you because you will be even more lovely than you were before.

Fall in love with yourself, girlfriend. Be proud of who you are, who you are becoming, the way you roll your eyes at anything funny, the way you belt out songs in your car while driving to work, the way you love to see others smile, the way life makes you happy to be alive, how you can notice even the most smallest detail and appreciate it. The way you notice things, and how you respond to them, can save yourself from a lot of mistakes in the future. Be present. Just BE. Being is the best thing you can be, darling.

You aren’t these four years, you are who you are after these four years. Don’t get that mixed up. People are going to remember the mistakes you made and how you made a fool of yourself, but know this: those things make you, not break you. Because, you won’t make those same mistakes again, thank God ;) But, you are going to grow into more independence and you are going to strive for a life filled with adventure, so these four years really don’t matter, honey. What matters is who you become after this is all said and done and to me personally, the person you wanna be is the person who is going to be with you when you go home on graduation night: yourself. No one else is going to be there. You will have no reason to wake up the next morning at 5AM to get ready for school. You are going to learn that at the end of the day now, you are going home with yourself and your life will be a living hell if the person you come home to at the end of the day is someone you wouldn’t even want to be friends with. Be your own best friend. You need to be.

Because plans change and they can hurt. Really bad. You might think you are going to school to be the world’s best special needs education teacher, but in reality, the loan you applied for declined your application so there isn’t a way for you to go to school now or in the future.

You are going to learn how to adjust to change real quick and the first time your plans don’t fall through, you are going to learn you need hope or a faith to hold onto during those times of unknown. The unknown will try to break you and make you feel defeated, but hope and faith will tell you you have a future, you have a plan, and this is not the end of the world.

Your picture perfect life after high school is a dream, a fantasy; it is not reality. No matter how much you will tell yourself you are going to make it work no matter what, you are going to learn that thinking too far ahead hinders you from being the best you right at this very moment.

Appreciate the little things. All the little things. Please take a moment and notice. Just see. . . the way your teacher greets you everyday with a smile, the janitor who works so hard everyday at your school, the librarian who answers all your questions about the boring MLA format and how to cite authors names correctly WITH A SMILE ON THEIR FACE *isn’t it so cute to see someone passionate about their job* (while you on the other hand are rolling your eyes about how lame this assignment is), the Senior Class meetings where you are able to look around at your class and your friends and your people...these are your people yo, appreciate them. Soon, you are going to realize that the best years of your life were the ones where you were surrounded by the same ambitious, dirty-minded, obnoxious group of teenagers because you all understood each other whether you liked it or not, or even see it or not. It’s the truth.

These are your people and please, darling, appreciate it now while it lasts. You are going to miss this. This is all you know now: waking up, going to school, going to work/practice, doing homework, eating here and there and everywhere, and then repeat. Repeat 5 days a week for 180 days a year.

What you don’t know now, is what is yet to come, will actually be the best years of your life. Because it will be a life that you create and stop comparing yourself to others and what they are doing because you will be working towards what sets your own heart on fire and these next years are going to challenge, enhance, and complex you to the core. . . but, that’s the best part. It won’t be easy, it will be worth it.

So dance while no one is watching.