Ten Things I Wish Someone Told Me About High School When I Was in High School

Pastor Tony mentioned my xanga during his sermon last Sunday.  Since then a bunch of youth group kids have come up to me to let me know that they’re going to check it out.  So to welcome them, I’m going to do something just for them.  I’m going to talk about 10 things that I wish that someone would have told me about high school when I was in high school.  This is because I know now that even though while I was a high school student, I was convinced that I knew everything about everything, in reality I knew less than nothing.  So here’s the straight dope…

1. No, you really, really don’t need those $200 pair of jeans… 
   Four months from now no one will remember you wore them.  If anything, 10 years from now someone may remember, but it will be in the context of “do you remember that fool who actually wore those $200 pair of jeans in high school?” (Eighties folks, think “Miami Vice” clothes… Nineties folks, think “the grunge” look).
2. Being in 7 different service clubs in high school will not get you into a better college…
   Chances are the admissions board will look at that part of your application for a total of 2 seconds and will influence them about as much as a sneeze will influence the local weather.  Be in a couple, but don’t kill yourself. 
3. Your life will not end if you don’t get into your first choice college…
   Or your second choice, or your third choice or your last choice, for that matter.  There are plenty of Ivy League failures and just as many community college successes.  Concentrate more on becoming a man or woman of character and the rest will take care of itself.
4. Wanting to be popular is about as futile as wanting to be rich…
   In the same way that people who you think have a lot of money aren’t satisfied with what they have, the people you think are popular don’t necessarily think that they are so and are not satisfied by their popularity.  You never reach a point where you stop and say, “Wow, I’m popular now.”  And if you can, you’re probably either deluded or extremely conceited.  Treat others how you would like to be treated and you’ll have something much better than popularity… you’ll have respect.
5. Labels are for food containers and t-shirts, not people…
   Be they emo, jock, nerd, drama dork, band geek, skater dude, goth, or metro… you have more in common with them than you think.  Each of your five best friends in college and beyond will probably be from each of those groups.
6. Peer pressure is not like what it is in those dorky public service announcements…
   I believe that 98% of “peer pressure” actually comes from within your own mind.  It’s you who thinks that others will not accept you if you don’t “fall in line.”  I can’t recall a single time in high school where someone EVER said the classic peer pressure after-school-special line, “hey, you won’t be cool unless you try it…”  That thought usually comes completely from within yourself.  I’m saying this to warn you so you’re not caught off-guard as you’re doing something that you didn’t think you’d ever do.  Think of it this way… have you, or will you, ever say that line to someone else?  No, right? 
7. Chances are almost nil that you will marry the girl/guy you’re dating in high school.
   Do you know how many of my married friends married their high school sweetheart?  NONE.  So if you’re dating and in high school, don’t take the relationship too seriously.  There really does not need to be that much drama in your life.  Treat that person like you would want your future wife/husband’s high school significant other to treat them.
8. Make a list of the top ten things you’re worried about and ignore five of them from this moment on…
   This is for two reasons: 1) the world is so much bigger than you think and that thing you’re worried about probably won’t mean a hill of beans in the real world, and 2) a typical teenager can look at a lit match and think it’s a forest fire.  It’s not.  You’ll realize later that you were blowing things way out of proportion.
9. No one will care squat about your SAT score outside of high school.
   If your greatest accomplishment in life is scoring above a 1300 (or 2000 on the new scale) on your SAT, you will have had a sad life indeed.  If your greatest failure in life is scoring below 900 (1400) on your SAT, you will have lived a very charmed life indeed.
10. Your life doesn’t end when you graduate high school… it’s just the beginning…
    Hate your school?  Hate all the fake people?  Think that everyone else is so much better off than you?  There are better days ahead, my friend.  The score goes back to 0-0 after graduation.  Realize that right now, you’re probably just a tightly wound bundle of emotions.  Get back to me in 4 years, you’ll know what I’m talking about.