As a senior in high school, the stresses of the future pile up – almost out of nowhere. The reality of becoming an adult does not hit until you find yourself subconsciously trying to figure out your whole future: career choices, college decisions, places to live, and so on. A lot of times, trying to figure all of these things out take up much of the time that we should be using to enjoy our final year of being kids. Sadly, society has pressed that we have our whole lives figured out by the time we graduate high school. 

It even gets to the point where teens get nervous to see extended family members because they already know the abundance of questions they are going to be asked about their futures. For example, I know my family is going to bombard me with all the classics: What college do you want to go to? Do you want to play soccer? Do you know what you want to major in? Are you going to follow in your mom’s footsteps? Sure, they’re asking because they care and they want to see their family do well. Yet it does go to show how society has normalized having everything figured out at such a young age. These are all things that, as a 17-year-old, I don’t know. 

The emotions of being a senior are all over the place; we’re excited to go off and be independent, but also terrified to leave where we are comfortable. We’re thrilled to meet new people, but a little down about leaving our families. We care about our grades, but we all have a slight (or maybe major) case of senioritis. So if there is one thing to remember, it would be to take a deep breath, take a step back, and realize you have the rest of your life to live…as corny as that sounds. With happiness as the main goal, you wouldn’t want to look back in forty years and realize you could have been better off if you had just taken more time to make these important decisions.