Society perceives high school as a time when you “make the best memories” and “find yourself.” Even though high school may be an exciting stage in life that encourages you to grow closer to who you truly are, it is also not the same for everyone. In fact, high school, in many cases, is not the most fun or memorable time. It is a time to prepare yourself for the actual good times that lie ahead.

It is a difficult, yet necessary step towards adulthood.

So even if your prom was amazing, or if your football team won nail-biter back-to-back championships, these memories are minor compared to the excitement that awaits you in college and beyond. The memories that everyone claims will stick with you forever will eventually fade, and high school won’t seem so remarkable anymore.

As a college senior, I can only recall few memories from my four years in high school, but I can probably tell you what I wore out almost every weekend of my freshmen year of college. Though I wouldn’t consider my high school experience bad or disappointing, I certainly don’t miss those times, and that’s OK.

Your true friends will show up later in life.

Though you may still have a select few friends from high school that you remain close with, real friends are developed once you develop and discover the important things in life. Through all the obstacles that life throws your way, your real friends will be the ones who stick with you through it all.

You are a much more mature version of yourself now.

I think if I was able to go back in time and meet myself in freshman year of high school, I would probably think she was an ungrateful, moody teenager. I look at some teens now and think “there was no way I was that disrespectful to my parents” or “I never complained that much.” But the reality is, we all went through that stage in life.

You have so much more freedom.

Looking back, high school really restricted me to be able to do the things that I wanted on my own time. Though some teens need that guidance and structure in their life, some young people also may have thought that those high school schedules were chains that held them down from actually enjoying their time.

You appreciate things more now.

Once you are on your own in college, you learn the true difficulties of responsibilities and being an adult. This allows you to understand and respect all the things that your parents once did for you.

You are learning things you are actually interested in.

No more sitting through boring lectures on the history of the Western world. In college, you are able to choose classes that spark your attention. This allows you to get more useful information out of your classroom experience.

You can be whoever you want to be.

In high school, there are definitely cliques and groups of people that are distinguished as “popular” or “not popular.” This puts a lot of pressure on teens to conform, instead of just allowing themselves to be who they truly are.Luckily, in college, no one really gives a crap about being popular or not because everyone’s in the same boat just trying to make it in the real world.