Dear High School Senior,

You”re probably finished or scheduled your SATs and you’re excited and or nervous about finishing high school. Excited because after twelve years, you’ve finished high school and nervous because you know that you have no idea what’s ahead but you do know everything is going to change.

College is cool but it’s not the be all, end all route to a fulfilling life. Knowing you want to be a doctor, writer or artist is great but not knowing is fine too. The mistake high school seniors (and a lot of adults) make is believing you have to have it all figured out. In fact you don’t even have to have some of it figured out.

Spend the summer before college traveling the country or worrying about absolutely nothing for once. The best part about not having it all figured out is being open to all the adventures along the way.

College is fun but I’ve seen so many peeps enter a university knowing what they wanted to do only to discover $30,000 later that they could not happily enjoy their career choice.

Planning the rest of your life at eighteen is a bunch of hoopla and I have no idea why society insists that’s the way life should be. Years ago if you asked a bunch of people why they were working at their job they mostly say for the paycheck or convenience but now people are following their passion and realizing it may take a while to discover their passion.

If you’re gearing up for freshman year, hurray for you and don’t take any of those four years for granted because they’ll be gone before you know it and you’ll be in the hole $40,000 rather you learned anything or not. College isn’t the real world in fact it doesn’t even prep you for the real world until you get the bill of course. Getting the bill and scrambling to pay it, is the biggest reality check you’ll get.

If you’re opting out of the whole “choose now, this is your future” spiel, it’s totally fine. College degrees don’t always equal more money. We are the most educated generation and the most underpaid. I’ll never forget the Pittsburgh City Paper turning me away for an internship because I needed more work experience (to work for free). There’s nothing wrong with finding other ways to invest in yourself like starting your dream business, picking up a trade, traveling the world, volunteering or even signing up to be an au pair in another country for a rich family.

After high school graduation you get to reinvent yourself. Introduce yourself to the world any way you choose and they have to believe you because the world hasn’t met you yet.

xoxo

Daè