5 Things I Wish I Knew In High School
Most of us survive high school, but it’s not easy. If the flux capacitor wasn’t busted on my DeLorean Time Machine, I’d travel back in time and tell young Tee 5 Things I Wish I Knew In High School. It would help her out a lot.
Since I can’t, I’ll share it with you instead.
5. Everyone feels vulnerable
Everyone is insecure. And I mean everyone. Even the chick who swears she “woke up like dis” like Beyoncé and the guy who tells everyone he’s NFL material. They just hide it better than most.
Miss Flawless secretly freaks out when a pimple pops up on her nose and Mr. Football worries about losing his QB spot to the new kid. The Brain agonizes about her perfect GPA.
The rest of us have struggle face as we try super hard not to let other see the chinks in our armor.
Perfection is stifling, and frankly, boring. Yawn.
It took me forever to realize this. Got a reminder from singer Elle Varner that I’m perfectly imperfect.
4. Your kryptonite doesn’t have to destroy you
We all have room for improvement. Mine was math. Khan Academy didn’t exist. If it did, I’d be somewhere coming up with cool calculations and such.
Formulas crashed and burned in my head. Nothing would stick. Numbers hated me. But I was crazy good at hiding it…until report card time. I think my mother’s head spun around like Beetlejuice before she signed me up for a tutor.
A person with the last name Smart cannot afford to let anyone see a less than amazing test score. I was called Taiia Not So Smart. And for those with a bilingual tongue, Taiia Estupdia.
Still, my kryptonite did not take me down. And I didn’t need a cape and blue tights.
That would’ve been weird.
3. Bottled up emotions is nevah, not evah, nevah a good look
Here’s the deal: If/when you pretend—for months and months—not to be stung by the insensitive thing your bestie said, the annoying thing your brother said, the stupid thing your boyfriend said, you’ll spazz out. Eventually.
And it won’t be pretty.
Green crap will spew from your mouth like lava. You’ll say hurtful things, just ’cause you were hurt. Sometimes you just can’t take the words back. An apology won’t make it all better. You lose a friend.
This moment in my life is called: Stupid Things I Said In the Heat of the Moment.
Deal wit’ the issue when it happens. Don’t bite the inside of your cheek and pretend like words don’t harm you.
That Sticks ’N’ Stones nursery rhyme is crap. Words hurt. But they heal too.
2. Choose your own adventure
Where was Katniss Everdeen when I was 16? Or Tris Prior? These girls chose their own adventure. Katniss volunteered to take her younger sister’s place in the Hunger Games. Tris chose to be Dauntless, a totally different faction from her family.
There’s nothing wrong with fitting in, if that’s what you want to do. But don’t forget to do some cool ish that the herd/crowd/everyone else ISN’T doing.
Disagree with popular thought. Study Japanese. Start a tech business. Shred your guitar in the talent show. Tryout for the track team.
Reject the boxes people will attempt to lock you in.
Life is way interesting when you chose the adventure that suits you, vs. the one that everyone is rocking with. Trust.
1. High school isn’t—I repeat—isn’t the real world
It’s a small part of the real world, but it can seem like the center of the universe since you spend most of your time there from September to June for four consecutive years.
You’ll participate in a larger part of this real world stuff in college.
More studying. Good decisions. Drama. Dating. Roommate issues. Money problems. Bad choices.
Go into this knowing that high school is a game, like Call of Duty, Halo or Monopoly, but you don’t collect $200 for letting anyone get into your head.
The grey matter is sacred ground.
Don’t give the bullies, loud mouths, haters, Debbie Downers and dream crushers a chance to form a committee about you. Their opinions are like buttholes—e’rybody got one.
Use an invisible repellent to keep them out of your space, life and head.
Oh, and if they’re already in your head, it’s time to detox. Or as Yoda said: “You must unlearn, what you have learned.”
May the Force be with you.
Funny… T you were the girl that came up from shy to rocking and being you… I salute you… yes high school is just apart of the process called life but not life itself. yes young folks must make rules that will take then to their goals… And if they don’t have them in place they need to develop them…. And just for the record you did well in math…. not the 90 average you would of liked. But you are ZORRO with a Pen… And that is your star power… 100% I think. Lol… Ma.
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