An Open Letter to the High School Senior Dying to Leave Home,
You are almost done! You have almost completed your high school education and you should be pretty freakin’ proud of yourself. You’ve almost made it through the long tests, the hours of homework, the sports team practices, the extracurricular activity meetings, the college application process, the late nights, and the insanely large amount of stress that comes with being a high school student. You’re almost on the other side, but you aren’t quite there yet and you wish you were. You wish you could leave behind all the drama that inevitably comes along with being in high school. You wish you could leave behind the boring lectures about things and ideas you don’t care about. You wish you could leave behind your nagging parents who are always asking you where you are going and when you are going to be back. You wish you could leave behind your childhood life and head out on your next journey. But you can’t because you aren’t quite done yet and believe me when I say, you still have a lot to learn.
You see being in college is awesome. It is completely different from anything you have and ever will experience in your entire life. You will be exposed to cultures, people, ideas, beliefs, and lifestyles you never even knew existed. You, and only you, will get to decide what you are going to spend your time on and who you are going to spend your time with. You, and only you, will get to decide if you are going to blow off your homework to go out with your friends on a Thursday night. You, and only you, will get to decide what time you want to eat dinner and if you are going to get a freshly made salad or a chicken sandwich and fries from Chick-Fil-A. You, and only you, will get to decide if you want to stay up all night watching an entire season of Grey’s Anatomy because it’s just so darn good. You, and only you, will get to decide if after staying up all night watching an entire season of Grey’s Anatomy you want to go to your morning classes. You, and only you, will have complete and total control over almost every aspect of your life. You will experience what if feels like to be independent and to make your own choices. I’m sure you have heard this from so many people in your life who have gone to college and experienced what college life is like. I’m sure you have heard about all of the great and amazing things that come along with being in college and you have wondered if they are true, and to be honest they are. But I am also sure that there are things about college that no one ever told you about.
They probably never told you about what if feels like to sleep in your dorm room that first night. They probably never told you that for the first couple of days you are at school you won’t really feel like eating much. They probably never told you about what it feels like to see your best friends from high school making memories that you are not a part of. They probably never told you what it feels like to fail your first college test that is worth half your grade. They probably never told you what it feels like to have to nurse yourself back to health when you are sick. They probably never told you what it feels like to walk through campus and not see one familiar face because there are 40,000 students in college as opposed to the 1,500 in high school. They probably never told you what it feels like to come home to a virtual stranger after a long day instead of a loving family. They probably never told you what it feels like to have to figure out the requirements of how to keep your scholarship, or when to sign up for classes, or what classes you need to take to stay on target for your major because these things are no longer figured out by your guidance counselor or your parents. They probably never told you what it feels like to miss your little brother’s first football game because you are away at school. They probably never told you what it feels like to have to call your Dad to wish him a happy birthday instead of running downstairs and giving him a birthday hug. And I can bet that they probably never told you what it feels like to lay in your bed, the one you have been sleeping in for 18 years, the night before you leave for college and be scared to death about all the uncertainty that lies ahead.
I am not telling you all of these things to scare you or make you more nervous than you already are to go to college. I am telling you this because right now you are so focused on getting out of here that you are failing to realize all of the amazing memories and people you are leaving behind. Be excited for your future because it is bright. Be excited for all the Senior activities that you have worked so hard for. Be excited to pick out your prom dress. Be excited to walk up on that stage to get the diploma that you so deserve. Be excited to go dorm room shopping. Be excited to meet your roommate. Be excited to start you new life, but don’t let your excitement to leave overshadow the time you still have left. Enjoy the little moments and appreciate the people, places, and things that have shaped you in to who are. Be thankful, be present, and do not rush it because there is one more thing that no one ever tells you about college. And that is the feeling that comes over you during those final moments when you hug your parents’ goodbye as they get in the car, and watch them drive away while you stay right where you are. Because in that moment you’ll realize that your life will never be the same. You’ll realize that you are are in fact on your own and you’ll wish that you spent a little less time hoping you could just leave already and a little more time appreciating the amazing life you have and all of the people in it.
So enjoy it all. Enjoy every second of every single day. Tell your parents you love them all the time. Memorize what it sounds like to laugh with your friends. Take in the smell of your house and the view from your bedroom window. Eat as much of your favorite food from the local restaurants as you can. Play with your pets for hours at a time. Go to all your high school dances and buy the prettiest dresses you can. Do everything and be thankful for everyone. Because then, when the day comes for you to actually get out of here, you’ll be scared but you’ll be ready because you will know that you owned every second of what made you who you are. And it is only when you fully read, understand, and appreciate one chapter that you can turn the page to the next.
Sincerely Yours,
A College Freshman Who is Turning the Page.