As we grow up, we’re constantly told that every moment of our lives matters, that everything we choose to do will affect us, but they don’t, and here’s why. 

When we start high school by going to that first football game and walk the dazzling halls for the very first time, we’re unknowingly being lead into the trap of “high school”.  All too often we’re consumed with the stigma of what high school is supposed to be and having the “perfect experience,” rather than having our own experience. 

Leaving middle school, and officially being in high school, no doubt, is mesmerizing. High school is seen as the golden ticket that we’ve dreamt of, for so long, making us believe that we’ll have the best time of our lives and that we’ll never forget the experiences we’ve had. This preconceived thought about how it will play out and what high school is, has been in all of our minds, but why?  Who said that high school is the same for everyone, who says that one person will have the same path as you? 

This black and white thinking of what high school is set out to be is not a story written in stone. It’s supposed to be your story.  

Much like anything else, that thought of high school, and the reality are not the same. Seeing the pictures, watching the movies, and hearing the stories about how high school will play out is someone else’s story, not yours.

The archetype of high school has many variations, although it’s the same. The same old story is not one that everyone shares because the perfect reality for some, is not that for others. In the back of our minds, we get the feeling that we might not be living out the perfect high school experience, though this feeling is rarely spoken about. The nondirect feeling of being pressured into the mold of what high school is supposed to be puts more stress onto us than you’d think. 

Going to the football games, having the most friends and getting the best grades, are all a part of the high school horse race, bucking forward with the hope that we’ll make it out first, as the best.  

What we disregard to see is that not one singular person will come out on top, no matter how hard they strive to be the best. The social anxiety about trying to fit the stereotypes of what a high schooler is, and trying to define the high school story,  has an incidental impact on our physical and mental health. 

Apart of becoming yourself is paving our own path, and writing our own story, not plagiarising. 

Ultimately, your mind writes your story, to set you up for your experience, giving you the ability to break the pre-constructed story. The stress, anxiety, and worrying, have no place because living the stigmatized high school story does not matter. 

What matters is how we learn from the situations we are placed in, and how we learn to adapt to them. Setbacks that distract you from yourself are ones that will not matter. If no one will remember this in 10 years, does it really matter now?