Dear High School Freshman,
It’s challenging, coming from a place of being “top dog” in your seniority last school year; I understand. It’s going to have its ups and downs, with hills and valleys to climb and fall.
Your relationships are going to grow and change, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. You’re not always going to have the same friends, but you will make new ones along the way. These ones, I suggest, you hold on to for a long time, because although you will part by the end of your senior year, these will be the ones that are with you for life. It’s okay to not feel this way about any particular friend just yet, they will come when the time is right and you need them most. It’s also okay not to have ten best friends, since it’s better to have a few best friends than ten okay ones that you’ll probably never speak to again after these pivotal four years.
You’re not always going to meet people who radiate happiness, they won’t always treat you with respect or kindness. That’s okay too. Always take the high road and never question your ability to radiate your own kind of positivity. That is in itself, the ultimate comeback.
Freshman year is an easy gateway for wrongdoing, as you figure out who you are and who you want to be. Just remember that respecting yourself is much more important than what others think or say about you; doing what’s right may not be popular, but doing what’s popular may not be right either.
Heartbreaks are always going to challenge you no matter what grade you are in or how old you get. This just another obstacle to overcome in life; this is what makes you stronger. Heartbreaks are necessary hiccups in the road; one of life’s many lessons that you can only grow from these experiences.
I’m learning, without hypocrisy, that I have a long journey ahead of me too. I’ve made mistakes, trusted the wrong people, and succumbed to what I thought was cool, rather than choose my own path. But we are also human: young and expected to enjoy life as much as we can. Our journey, no matter the age, is to soak up all the goodness our big world offers us.
I recommend you follow your own bumpy, dirt road, because the ones that are paved and smooth aren’t yours to follow. A tale as old as time itself says that life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain.
With love,
A College Freshman