On this gloomy afternoon, my roommate is playing country music while we do homework. “5 More Minutes” by Scotty McCreery happened to come on and the song jolted me back to high school. Although I don’t like to admit it, I had senioritis upon entering high school. I was as guilty as the next person of wondering why it couldn’t just be Friday. During high school, and even now, I found myself always wondering that and being mentally and emotionally disengaged from what was going on around me. I didn’t “live in the moment.” (I am not saying you shouldn’t plan things out, but I do feel that it’s important to be present in what’s going on NOW.)
Anyways, as I sat here listening to the words, I realized that even though I vowed I would never miss high school, I do. Even though I was so excited to move away from home the majority of the year, I miss living there. And I really miss getting everything paid for…
In a lot of ways we all, myself included, are wishing for 5 more minutes at the same time as we’re wishing for it to be Friday. My senior year was when these thoughts started to really intertwine in my life. While I was wishing for it to be Friday, I was praying that my last Homecoming week would slow down. Even while I counted down the weeks until graduation, I thought about how sad it would be to lose contact with the people I’d gone to school with for 13 years. These thoughts impacted me so much that I decided to give short stories about my classmates and I from every year that we went to school in my speech at graduation, a last chance to reminisce together before it was all over.
In many ways, I find myself following the same pattern in college. About a week ago I found myself on a loop thinking about how different things will be in a few years. I know that we should always be grateful for what we have and where we’re at, but graduating from high school and going into college really makes me think about how much I took for granted when I was younger.
Honestly, college is sort of a final attempt to avoid growing up.
With these thoughts, I wanted to share a little piece of advice with the high school seniors that are so ready to “get out.” You’ve probably heard it a thousand times, but you’re gonna miss it. Please, quit wishing it away. Sure, high school is not “the best time of your life” for everyone. But high school, and school in general, teaches you so many things about yourself and the people around you. Don’t wish it away. When you find yourself wishing it was Friday, wishing graduation was this weekend, or wishing you were officially an adult already, think about everything that you’ve learned from school. I’m not talking academically, I’m talking life lessons.
Your life could change in a split second, so why wish all those seconds away?
