When I was a 17-year-old girl I thought I could do it all. I had the good grades, the guy, and was captain of my dance team, but nobody tells you sometimes doing everything is not realistic, and sometimes you hit bumps in the road.

So when I thought I could be superwoman and conquer everything, it was not as easy as I had hoped. But the biggest regret from when I was 17, was not knowing that I could get my heart broken by a guy.

The times you spend with your high school boyfriend, whether it be the laughs on late night food runs, or the butterflies in your stomach when you share your first kiss, are exceptional. You might love him, you know when all you want to do is spend every moment with him. Caring so much about someone is very special, but what I did not know was that those initial butterfly feelings could go away. When I was 17 I wish I knew some of the things I now know.

1. I wish I knew that sometimes love does not last. Whether it was dating the guy you had always wanted to date, and then he cheats on you, or the love doesn’t last because you are going to different colleges. Whether he is only looking to hookup, or maybe, he just lost those feelings he once had for you. I wish I knew… so I would not have had to experience heartbreak.
2. I wish I knew that sometimes the words “I love you” are just said by an immature high school guy, just to show his friends that you and him are a couple.
3. I wish I knew that other girls talking to my boyfriend would make me jealous. You always think you are not going to be the jealous girlfriend, but when your boyfriend has many other “girl friends” you have to share him with, you start to wonder, why you're dating.
4. I wish I knew the boy I dated in high school would go to a different college and not talk to me because he found cooler friends to hang out with. But then expect me to hang out with him over breaks.
5. I wish I knew the first guy you really like will take the longest time to get over. Also, when he goes off to college you will still wonder how he is doing and if he is with someone else. You know you shouldn’t care anymore but a girl just cannot let go of the first guy she loved.

I have learned all of this since I was 17 and I know guys are not the end of the world. Getting a college degree and making friends at college are the two things that will last you a lifetime. I wish I knew that focusing all of my attention on boys when I was in high school was not the smartest idea, but you live and you learn. I just hope the high school girls now do not get caught up in the boy drama. A boyfriend is important, but making yourself into a girl who gets jealous and worries about not seeing her boyfriend every day when you go off to college, is not that important. I wish I knew to focus on more than just boys because being superwoman is not realistic, and for me it was short lived.