Dear High School Freshmen,

I’m sure that you’ve heard it many times before, and it is such a cliché to you by now, but high school will be the best and worst four years of your life.

You’ll make the best of friends that you keep for a lifetime and some that fade away after a semester until your classes have changed, and suddenly when you see them in the hallway are complete strangers to each other. You’ll get slammed with countless amounts of homework that you believe is stupid, such as preparing an argument that you don’t agree with for an upcoming debate, pointless equations that you know will never be used later on in life and, of course, the infamous annotating of classical works that you swore you would hate.

You will make the team that you tried out for and be intoxicated with joy until that 5:30 a.m. alarm goes off five days a week for morning practice, making you ponder on the idea if that is what you really want to do anymore. You will get to meet a plethora of teachers, some who you hate with a burning passion and never come around to, but also some who you entrust your whole life with and maybe call them “dad” because you never had a father-figure at home.

You will cry. Cry when you fail a test that you spent all night studying hard for. Cry when the overwhelming stress is eating you alive. Cry when it's 2:00 a.m. and the project that you had a month to complete still isn’t started. Cry the night before your SAT because “your whole life depends on this test” and “this test defines who you are.” Cry the moment when you viciously tear the college letter that you were eagerly waiting for to find out that you just weren't good enough, but “try again next year.”

Just when you think that high school can't get any worse and that you’ve seen it all, it hits you hard with the unexpected. You're thrown into these what seem to be impossible obstacles — make sure you get to school on time, but don't eat your breakfast in class. Make sure all your homework for every class is complete. Make sure you're in at least three extracurriculars and have a job.

One day, though, when you're a senior and you're sitting in class counting down the short amount of days until you get out of this place for good, you will realize that you really don't want to leave. The past four years will run across your mind like a stampede, all at once reminding you of the struggles and hard work that you put in to get you this far. You will look over across the busy classroom, to see your friend who lives four short blocks away from you in that familiar brick house and shed a few tears at the fact he will soon be four long hours away in a completely different school that is foreign to you.

You will look at the teachers who you were once infuriated by because they called your mom everyday and finally come to understand that it’s because they just wanted you to succeed and be your absolute best. You will suddenly cherish the sweet rhythmic sounds of Mozart and Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker while leisurely walking down the hallways that you were once intimidated by. You will live to wake up hearing that obnoxious iPhone alarm at 5:30 a.m. for morning practice that you once dreaded because you are now aware this will be one of the last times you are brought together with your tightly knit team and show the love that you have for the game that made you the person you are today.

In a few weeks, you'll be taking the four years of high school along with you — moving the tassel from right to left — and going on to discover great endeavors. It won't be until the moment that you give your best friend that last tight goodbye hug or you're standing in front of the empty white walls of the new room you will grow to call home that you realize that high school was the best and worst four years of your life.

From,

Someone who wishes they could do it over again