Live in the Moment by Sydney

Live in the Moment by Sydney - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

When you enter high school, people are going to tell you a lot of things. Mainly, they are going to tell you that high school will be "the best years of your life." Now, this is not true for everyone. Your high school experience depends on you: your reactions, your decisions, and your attitude. You are going to have a lot of homework and you are going to be stressed out. You are going to think, "Are these really going to be the best years of my life?" What no one talks about enough is the amount of stress that you will go through. Did you know that the average high school student today has the same amount of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950’s? If there is so much stress how can these be the best years of your life?

They can be. My best advice to you as an incoming high school freshman is to live in the moment. No matter how stressful your situation gets or how much homework you have, you will get through it. You will pass that test and pass that class. Why stress about something when you know that no matter what, you will get through it? Live in the moment. I guarantee that in two years, you will not remember a word of that test you spent a week stressing over. Do you want to know what you will remember? You will remember the night you went bowling in dresses with your friends instead of attending homecoming for the fourth year. You will also remember that first magical homecoming night and how alive you felt dancing under the stars. You will remember going out to an early breakfast before school and you will remember meeting up for dinner after school. You will remember that time you all joined a volunteer club and painted a house, but ended up painting each other as well.

Looking back on your high school years, they truly will be the best years of your life, as long as you make them that way. That is the one piece of advice that I could give any incoming freshman: do not let the stress weigh you down. Find those little happy moments and make the most of those four years with your friends. Take thousands of pictures to remember each moment and laugh a lot. You will not regret it.