It’s okay if you don’t go.

There may be several reasons why you’re not going to prom, you may not have a date and are scared to go alone or you may not really like to dance.

If your senior prom is approaching and you don’t have a date, can’t decide whether to go or not, or are feeling bad about your decision to not go, don’t sweat it.

Prom isn’t like it is in the high school movies. My prom sucked. And this could have been due to the low-funded school I was going to, but regardless, it really didn’t live up to my expectations.

I was one of those people that dreamed about prom for most of my life. I dreamt about being asked to prom by an adorer and finally transforming from my ugly duckling days into a beautiful princess for that night.

Every year of high school that I wasn’t a senior I hoped I’d get asked out by a senior to prom, even though I knew that no one really liked it.

Once my senior year rolls around, I did have a boyfriend that could ask me out to prom, but we were expected to go together so he didn’t really have to ask me. He asked me with taco bell at a park.

I wasn’t ungrateful, but it signaled how my fantastical expectations of this event weren’t going to be met.

I remained positive and picked out a dress and wanted to make plans with limos and pictures and dinner, but all mostly fell through.

I went to prom with my beau and we basically stood around amidst classmates we didn’t really know that were grinding to bizarre R&B music.

It was a disappointment.

I’m sure some of the more popular kids went to some after parties or hooked up afterwards, but if that’s what you really want to do, you might as well go do that and bypass the trouble of getting a tux.

People are often scared not to go to their prom because they think they will regret it forever after if they don’t go. You’re only really regretting something that you thought it was like. If you realized what prom was like, you probably wouldn’t care as much about missing it.

There are a lot of other things you can do for fun with your date, your friends, or by yourself.

Prom is for some people. There are the pre-sorority prom queens who’s social life depends on their dress and limo and afterparty, but if you’re considering not going to prom, that probably isn’t you.

Even if you are a high school socialite, there are other high school activities like football games and parties that you can still go to.

It's such an ingrained part of high school culture that you may think you have to. But it's merely a tradition that's perpetuated by generations of teenagers.

It's important to make your own decisions, but you have my permission to not go to your prom if it's not right for you.