I’ve been guilty of, at times, just letting life pass me by. I’ve chosen to spend a night in while I could’ve been with friends, just because I was tired and didn’t feel like it. While that can be completely justified, it’s not what I want. I want to be able to have little to no regrets leaving Forest Hills Central and for the rest of my life. I don’t want to live my life just doing what I have to do or going by what I’m expected to do, or even what I’m recomended to do. I want to live my own life, and enjoy it however I want to.

This is my sophomore year of high school. Next year, I’m a junior, and the year after that I’m a senior. That’s a little more two and half years left in this school, and they’re going to pass by far quicker than I can imagine. Friends I’ve made and people I’ve met are going to graduate, and I might never speak with some of them again. I don’t want to graduate and have thoughts like, “Oh, I wish I had done _____.” I want to make the most out of what I have, and make the most out of my experiences. People come and people go, and I want to make my time with these people the best it can be.

I have two younger sisters, and one of them will be a freshman next year. The other will be going into 6th grade, and it’s so hard for me to comprehend how we’ve all grown up so quickly. I can still remember how intimidating that first day was, and how I was so worried about being late to classes or how evil my teachers would be. The two years I spent in that building changed me, along with mostly everyone, for better or for worse. It was the first true test of many elementary-school-friendships for many, cemented many cliques, and swarmed our early teenage brains with expectations and things we’d never experienced before.

On my first day as a little freshman, my elementary and middle school teachers’ words of how high school teachers will happily tear apart your homework and fail you flew through my head, and I really didn’t know what to expect. The seniors seemed so old and smart, and grades really mattered. I met so many new people that year, and my teachers were far nicer than I could’ve ever imagined. I started to realize who I was, who I was becoming, and who I might want to be. Through ups and downs alike, freshman year was a great experience for me, and I grew from it in oh-so-many ways.

Now back to the present, I’m really uncovering my passions, and I’m trying to step out of my comfort zone. The same cliques that have existed since middle school are slowly dissolving, and I’m meeting people I’d never even talked to before. I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone and embraced the idea of who I want to be, and I’m working towards it. I’m realizing that there are some things that require nothing but hard work to achieve, and I’m working towards them. My friends have always been supportive of me and I’m incredibly thankful for that and all of them. I’m so thankful for everyone I’ve met and spoken with and anyone who’s pushed me to become a better person and make the most out of my life.

College is going to come so much sooner than I can possibly imagine, and it’s going to be instrumental to the rest of my life. I’ll be starting over in many aspects, and eventually some  memories of high school will fade away. Of course, I’ll never forget all the great times I’ve had (and hopefully will have!) for the rest of my time here at FHC. I’ll be working towards what I want in life, and I’ll end up meeting new people wherever I go. I’ll be following the path that countless people before me have taken, and it’s really weird to put it in that perspective.

I’m most definitely going to live the life I want to live, and I’m going to control my own future. I don’t want to leave high school with regrets, and I’m certainly not going to have that happen. Putting myself out of my comfort zone, doing things I’d never thought of doing before, and pushing myself to be better hasn’t done anything but good for me, so why stop?