Dear You,

Life isn't supposed to be easy. Especially high school. With tests and quizzes, SAT's, and future-impacting decisions all crammed into 4 years of your life, yeah, that's not too easy. It's supposed to be that way. You have to figure your own self out, not anybody else, you. School teaches you many things, like the Pythagorean theorem or what the mitochondria is, but the main thing we learn wasn't taught to us from teachers. No, the main things learned are from your experiences within that school. Here are some that I have learned so far:

You Don't Have To Follow The Crowd.

Just because EVERYONE got the new iPhone, or just because EVERYONE is doing something, doesn't mean that you should feel obligated to do it also. It's hard to not get trapped in becoming a follower, but it's essential to lead rather than follow. Learning to become your own person is such an amazing thing.

Keep Your Family Close, No Matter What.

You go through a lot of events in high school that could cause you to push your family away and cling onto your friends, but my advice, from me to you, is to not do that. Once those "friends" leave you in the dust, who is there to clean up the mess? Your family. More than likely your family will support you through everything, and help you become the person they've wanted to see grow since you were born. They love you, and as annoying family can be at times, they do the things they do and say the things they say to help YOU. Friends are temporary but family is always there. Remember that.

Friends Will Leave You.

Relating to above, friends are temporary. As much as you argue it, it's fact. No friend stays in your life forever and if they do, it's fact that they have betrayed you in some way, shape or form. It's the ugly truth, accept it or not. People will always have something to say and you have to accept that. "The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies, it comes from friends and loved ones." That's the bitter truth of it all.

Love Happens.

It's inevitable. Unavoidable. And as much as you don't want to fall in it, you will. Love is happiness and love is sadness and you can't get one or the other. You have to go through both. It happens. And when it does, let it happen. It'll better you and even if it doesn't end well, it's still a lesson learned.

It's Okay If People Don't Like You.

Not everyone is going to want to be your friend, and that's totally fine. As I said earlier, someone is always going to have something to say. If you're happy, they'll talk. If you're down on yourself, they'll talk. It's okay if people don't like you. Appreciate who truly loves you and forget about the ones who don't. You'll go distances following that.

Appreciate Who You Are, Don't Change For Anyone.

In order to go somewhere in your life, you have to like yourself. Better yet, you have to love yourself. It's very hard and I definitely have trouble doing that also, but you have to. You can't love other people and be happy if you don't love yourself first.

High School Flies, So Have Fun.

Don't waste your time being sad or crying over boys/breakups. High School is a one time thing and you need to grasp onto that. It only comes once and it's the last stage before becoming an adult. After this, you either go to college or pursue what you want to do with your life. In high school you can make mistakes and have fun with little consequences, but in the real world you cannot make tragic mistakes that you could get away with back in school. Go out with friends, go to all of the football games, stay up late and have fun. That's the main thing; to have fun. These 4 years will fly quicker than you know.