This is it. You’ve come to the point in your life when, even if it’s months away, you’ll get out. You’re either buzzing in excitement or dreading not knowing where your life will go. You go through the school day and then get home and try to balance schoolwork with figuring out life plans and college applications. This is the year where you’ll feel obligated to tell your friends that you’ll keep in touch after the last day, even if you don’t mean it.

Over and over as a kid you get asked what you want to be when you grow up, and your answer is always so sure-sounding. I want to be an astronaut, a firefighter, the president. Then they tell you that you should have a career that you like and can be financially supported by, and the confidence in your answer fades. I don’t know. Now is the time in your life where not knowing isn’t really an acceptable answer. Parents, teachers, and friends all tell you that not knowing is okay and that you’ll figure it out. Yet, you get pushed to know.

Even though senior year is stressful even at the start, it’ll work out. It won’t necessarily be “easier,” but college applications will be in, and you won’t have to worry about filling them out. You’ll get into the groove of the new school year and figure out how to balance it with everything else. It’s stressful now, and from here on out there will probably always be something to stress about. However, don’t give up on working towards a wider net of experiences in your life. School as a whole is about 12 years of your life when it’s a requirement to be there five
days a week. Even if you go to college, it’ll give you an opportunity to experience more, and, unless you’ve transferred school districts before this, will be an opportunity for you to meet completely different people.

Everything was different a year ago. A year ago you knew in the back of your mind that graduation was coming, but it didn’t feel so relevant. Now the impending future doesn’t seem so far away or out of reach. It’s happening now and you can’t go back; there’s nowhere to go except forward, into the uncertain future. Things will be fine; you’ll figure it out as you go along. Embrace the next chapter of the adventure.