T-minus 25 days, 23 minutes and 18… no 17… seconds until graduation.
As my scholastic finish line looms increasingly closer by the second, I want to take a moment to say a few final words to you all, before I morph into one of those power suit-wearing, workaholic, totally irrelevant old people (ick).
So before my immanent mutation occurs, I’d like to leave you all with some words of what I think could or could totally NOT be wisdom.
I have been in school for as long as I can remember; my primary occupation has always been to be a student and my duties and obligations have been my books, my tests, my grades.
I have learned a great deal in my time as a student, and almost none of it has been written in any history book or can be solved by solving any algebra equation. Here’s what I would like to argue are the top 10 things I wish I knew BEFORE I graduated.
Luckily, I am giving you bloggers this priceless information now in an attempt to help you all save yourselves.
10. If you’re doing a multiple choice test and don’t know the answer, pick “C.”
This is probably not at all scientifically proven, but I feel like teachers love the answer to be “C.” It’s got something to do with “extremeness aversion” (that’s something I learned in class. If you don’t know what it means, you might want to reconsider those summer school courses your parents suggested).
9. Life is about choices. What you will wear, or say, who you will hang out with, how much you study, what you want to do with your life are all up to you. Some choices aren’t always easy, clear-cut, or black and white.
There have been times in my life where I felt like the choice was too difficult to make, so I did nothing. But I realized that even my lack of taking action is still making a choice to do nothing. To not choose is the only thing you can’t, well, choose!
8. Always wear a smile- it will NEVER go out of fashion.
‘Nuff said.
7. Worrying gets you nowhere. It only stresses you out, stimulates early hair loss, and gives you those embarrassing zits.
Whatever is going to happen is going to happen, with or without you clenching your teeth. The best thing you can do is put yourself in a position to have the best possible chance of success. The rest is up to whatever puppeteer is controlling it all.
6. Shut your MacBook down and go do something you’ve never done before.
Again, ‘nuff said.
5. Nothing is as bad as you think it is. That math test you failed does not equate to your life being over.
Wounds heal, hearts mend, and most experiences that seemed so horrible in the moment will soften in your memory.
Trust me: You’ll be amazed that after awhile you won’t remember the name of that teacher you hated in middle school and you can’t recall the reasons why you and your ex ever broke up in the first place.
4. Take too many pictures.
Your friends might think your as weird as that kid in American Beauty who video tapes a floating plastic bag, but, trust me, they’ll all be thanking you later for the priceless moments you’ve captured.
3. Grades don’t matter. Effort does.
All the kids I noticed that seemed to get the most out of the course were never the ones with the highest class average -- and they will probably be the most successful ones later in life.
That’s because your future boss isn’t going to care how well you can memorize or regurgitate information, but rather how well you perform, how creative your solutions to the problems presented are, and how much effort you put into your work.
If at the end of the day you felt you tried your best, yet got less of a grade than you felt deserved, remember that hard work will eventually be rewarded, without the compromise of integrity.
2. If you love someone, don’t wait another second. Tell them now. Don't worry, I can wait.
Finally, here’s the No. 1 thing you should remember when you going out into the real world: Be true to yourself.
Styles will change, technology will continue to grow, present will become past, and even you will change some. Much of us spend a great deal of time just trying to keep up with our friends, our peers and everyone else around us.
However, you will find that even all those people will disappear and reappear throughout the course of your life. The only person that is really in this race for the long haul is you. So make sure you’re the kind of person that YOU’D want to hang out with, because in the end that’s all you’ve got.
Now I am not the valedictorian, so fortunately for you, my list of top 10 things you should know before you graduate can be totally disregarded.
Still, if you want to print it out and hang it on your wall, or carry it everywhere with you because it’s just SO INSIGHTFUL… well, I totally understand.
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