Have you ever heard the expression "another year older, another year wiser"? In high school, I thought this was just a cliche that old people used to make themselves feel superior. Just three years after graduating, I realize that although it may be cliche, it is the truth. I've had so many "aha!" moments and realized a lot of things I wish I had known when I was in high school. Since those four years were awful for me, I figured it was important to share what I've learned with any high schoolers who might read this. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and be inspired by my regrets or lack thereof.
01.) Popularity isn't everything. In fact, it's nothing. I was one of those girls who floated around in the middle of the spectrum. I wasn't a nerd. I wasn't popular. Therefore, I was kind of invisible to everyone except for my small group of friends. I hated that! I always hoped and prayed that one day the popular kids would invite me to one of their parties. I just wanted an opportunity to show them how fun I was and that I wasn't the same shy girl I was in middle school. That never happened, but I'm glad. Turns out that the popular kids were the ones who weren't fun to be around! They had to pop pills and get drunk just to have a good time. I would have missed out on so many amazing moments with my friends. Junk food filled sleepovers, prank calls, acting stupid, and laughing until our stomachs started to hurt. I'm glad I didn't grow up too fast!
02.) Just because you don't get asked on dates doesn't mean you're undesirable. In high school, I wouldn't have been able to pay a guy at my school to take me on a date! Dances came and went, and I always had hope that this would be the time I was asked...it never was. I wanted a date to homecoming so badly that I finally decided to ask someone myself. He was my crush for two years: not that attractive or popular but he made me laugh and I really liked talking to him. My crush, Nick, said "yes" and that had to have been the happiest day of my teenage life! I made sure I had the perfect dress, an adorable up do, and flawless makeup. We were supposed to meet at the dance and I nervously waited around the entrance for him to arrive. An hour later, I was still waiting and my heart began to sink. All of my friends reassured me and said "I'm sure he's just running late", but I knew at that point that Nick wasn't coming at all. I had never felt more undesirable, unwanted, and unattractive! Even an unpopular chubby kid didn't want to be my date! I slowly started to accept the fact that I wasn't going to have a high school sweetheart, a date to my senior prom, or probably ever be asked out on a date.
A month after graduation, I moved two hours away from my small home town to live on campus at my college. Immediately after moving in, I started to recieve male attention left and right (and not just from short stubby losers...normal, attractive guys!) I thought I had moved to some ass backwards town where ugly was beautiful, and beautiful was ugly but that wasn't the case at all! In fact, shortly after graduation, multiple guys from my high school sent me a message on Facebook and said "You are so gorgeous! What happened?" But nothing had happened! Their eyes had just finally opened. It took me a while to realize that there was never anything wrong with me, it was what was wrong with them. They were so busy chasing after what was considered beautiful at my high school (a preppy blonde haired, blue eyed Abercrombie wearing clone) that they didn't notice how great I was! In the end, I'm glad it worked out how it did. A few months into college, I met the love of my life and we've been together for almost three years now.
To be continued.....
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