As a senior graduating from college in less than four months, I have a few words of advice for my high school counterparts. I do not want any high school senior to be overcome by the unknown, so this letter is meant to encourage everyone to step outside of their comfort zone and take a risk.
Dear seniors in high school,
Take a deep breath and sign the paper. You are going to love it. Close your eyes and open the door, and see what's waiting for you behind it, because it is going to change your life. You are about to decide to go to college far from what you know, and probably far from where the rest of your friends will end up. You are about to make a decision that will change your life. And I am here to tell you -- do it. Do it with confidence. You are going to come out on top.
There will be days when you struggle. There will be months when you miss home, not sure you made the right decision. There will be strained relationships and tested patience. You will miss the familiar, but I am here to tell you, it will still be waiting for you when you get back.
Now is the time to explore yourself, dive in to all these new experiences, take every chance and knock on every door opportunity presents. Grow. Learn. Meet new people. Be open to new experiences. The school will teach you how to pass tests and write decent enough papers two hours before the due date, but the people will change your life. The people you meet in the next four years will open your eyes to the world's possibilities and inspire you to become better.
On days you are sad, don't retreat into yourself. Go out and meet more people. Each soul you touch will affect your life; you can learn something new from every person you pass by. Don't be sad when you come home for summers and miss them, because life has a way of working things out.
One more piece of advice: don't compare your life to the seemingly perfect lives of others. Social media is a stretch of the truth -- no one laughs as much as those "candid" photos might depict, and that sunset is not quite as colorful without that Instagram filter. Everyone is struggling, in some ways, and flourishing in others. Find your own way to flourish, and don't think that what worked for other, will work for you. And don't be scared to do it differently. Don't be afraid to live life unfiltered.
So sign those papers, open that dorm room. The person sitting on the bed across from yours might become your best friend, and they just may change your life. That emblem at the top of those papers is going to be forever etched in your heart, as the place that forces you to grow up, teaches you to appreciate life, and shapes you into the strong independent person you will be at the end of these next four years.
Go, Gamecocks!
