1. PAY ATTENTION

The first step to surviving high school is to pay attention-and I don’t mean paying attention to the teacher. Look at the people and watch what they are doing. If you are tempted to follow others you will soon realize they don’t know much but they are trying act like they do. There is no such thing as cool and uncool. There however, is such a thing as dumb and even dumber. If you aren’t looking to be a zombie by the time you reach senior year, direct your energy towards the things you truly want to experience. There is some major sucking going on in schools and if you don’t want energy vampires bleeding you dry you better pay attention.

2. MIND YOUR BUSINESS

What someone or the other did last weekend however juicy it may be is not your business. I know it feels titillating to be the one to spread news around the school but if you keep spreading someone else’s business you will soon be sucked into a drama of such epic proportion that it would take epic strength, which equates to epic energy, to get yourself out. You will soon become an energy vampire and although you may gather minions who do your every bidding and yearn to have your power, your reign will collapse once the zombies who’ve been sucked dry decide to take back their power.

3. LAUGH IT OFF

High school is not that serious. I repeat: high school is not that serious. There is life beyond high school. I know that once you’ve stepped into the school building it may feel like you are encased in a bubble that exists in another dimension that is not on the same plane as earth; however, the world is still spinning and you are on earth my friend. High school is just a weird place on earth to be. Period. No if ands or buts about it.

People are trying to find out where they belong, some try to be big and bad and tough, some act stupid when they are really not, and some people are just plain crazy but try to flip it on you and make you feel and look like the crazy one. When you realize that nobody knows what they are doing, when you realize people don’t understand what they are saying, when you realize that most people are just mechanical robots, then you can laugh at anything and everything.

High school is a veneer that is full of veneers. No one knows what they are really doing there- not the teachers, not the principals, and most obviously not the students. It is just the place where parents send off their kids when adolescence hits. You may be getting an education (or not) but most importantly you are getting a world class ticket to the strangest play of your life. Sit back, relax, and enjoy it. And if people try to disturb this play you are enjoying and sometimes partaking in, give them the hand, not the finger.

4. DON’T TAKE ANYONE’S ADVICE

The dumbest thing you can and will ever do in high school, apart from telling people your deepest darkest secret(s), is to take someone else’s advice. Even if this person were going to become the next Mother Teresa or maybe Dr. Phil, do not tell them your secrets or take their advice. Fact of the matter is they are neither Mother Teresa nor Dr. Phil and their brain is most likely suffering from a perpetual hangover ergo, they are not qualified to dish out any words of (un)wisdom.

The only advice you need to take is yours. You may go to your parents for help, but when taking that route, you need to understand that they have a special interest (you getting good grades and staying in school). Everything else such as the social aspect of school, which seems to be the most important and in your face as a student, is secondary and I’m sorry to say, unimportant. So their advice however loving it may be, may be irrelevant to the situation at hand.

High school is the prime time to develop some balls; man, woman, or child; gay, straight, or bi, get some balls. These balls need to be fiery balls. We are talking some serious balls of fire here. This is the one gift that high school keeps on giving that is hardly appreciated. You keep getting offered this opportunity to do it over and over and over again. You need to learn to say no. “No” is such a simple word that crumples in the face of pressure and adversity. However when you’ve gathered the balls to say no and to mean it and to stick to it, you have arrived. You have finally arrived. “No” is the key that unlocks the door to having enjoyable experiences. When you learn to say no to people and their shenanigans, they learn to act right around you, even the teachers, because we all know some teachers just love to play games.

Trust that most people you meet in life will try you at least twice to test boundaries and then a third time to seal the deal; that’s human nature for you, hence the rule of “three strikes and you’re out”. Your reaction to the third time will set the tone of the relationship so stand firm. When you learn to say no, people will only offer you the things they know you’ll say yes to, and now you’ve cut your work down by half. Take the classes you want to take and be around the people you can be yourself with, but remember to always listen yourself. And by yourself I mean the person who’s left when you’ve taken your parents’ and your friends’ and your teachers’ voices out of your head.

5. READ THE FINE PRINT

You can basically live like a god in high school when you know the law of the land. Read all the fine print. It’s helpful to know what you’re getting into before you get into it. Watch for what people are not saying. Ask questions. Find alternatives if you don’t like how things are going. You’ll be surprised by how many resources have been there all along right in front of you that you always pass by because you’re stuck in the drama in your head and have low energy. Don’t make things work for others, make things work for you. Others will figure things out on their own and if they don’t, they don’t.

High school is a time of discovery if you let it be. Rather than accepting what others make of it, make it how you want it to be. See what it is that you want to see and be who you want to be, be who you are. Let go of your worries and things will work themselves out in time. Just be patient and be kind with yourself. That is all you need.
And always remember that it is never too late to change your mind on any matter. If you can get into it you can get out of it (if not you wouldn’t have been able to get into it in the first place, whatever the case may be).
Be You and Have Fun 🙂
Lots of Love,
Aisha Isabelle