You hear it all the time: “Don’t wish away your last few weeks of high school.” Every time someone tells you this, you roll your eyes and say, Be quiet, under your breath. The truth is, you’re just ready for change. You’re ready to leave the place you’ve grown up in. You’re ready to leave your comfort zone. Why is that so hard to understand?

While I’m not here to encourage you to skip out on all your senior year activities (because I don’t believe you should -- go to senior week), I am here because I rolled my eyes every time people told me I was wrong for counting down the days until I left my high school for good.

What people don’t understand is that you’re not excited to leave because you “hate everyone” or because you’re being a stubborn senior. You are excited because you can’t wait for all the opportunities that your new college will offer you. You are excited for the unknown (and a lot of time, most people aren’t). That’s OK. It’s even more than OK. It’s normal. It’s normal to want something new, and you shouldn’t let others portray you as crazy because you’re looking forward to that. You deserve to be happy about having new opportunities -- that you aren’t even aware of yet -- waiting for you.

Most students who feel like this usually do because they’re craving to be somewhere new. That is so understandable. It makes sense to want to leave what you’ve known for 18 years to move somewhere new and unknown. We’re humans; we weren’t made to constantly be in one place and never explore. Yes, you should be excited for prom, and you should go to senior cookout, but wanting to be in this new place you signed up for isn’t taking away from your senior year experiences. At this point, you know everything about your hometown. You know the names of every street, the best place to get a wrap, and even the best ice cream shops. All of those things that are seemingly small are things you will have to adjust to in a few months. You'll eat lots of wraps and visit multiple ice cream shops to find out which one is your favorite. For the first time in a long time, you're going to be somewhere where everything is new and you're left to be the judge. There is an unexplainable amount of excitement in that.

You’ve spent four years in high school with the same academics, the same athletics, the same extracurriculars. There’s no doubt you’re tired of doing all of the same things, and you have every right to crave the move to your new home in August. A lot of people will tell you you’re wrong for having these thoughts and feeling this way; well, they’re wrong. They, themselves, might not want to leave, or they might be bitter about where they’re going in the fall. But that shouldn’t allow them to put down what you’re excited for.

So, yes, go to prom because you should be with the people you’ve grown up with one last time before you leave and subsequently come back different. Go to the cookout put on by your class, because the next time you step on the football field, it won’t be yours. But don’t feel as though wanting graduation to come so quick is wrong. You worked hard to get to where you’ll be in the fall. And honestly, the journey ahead is far better than the journey that has come and gone.