This is weird. This is really really weird. You know, college is a time that I’ve thought about since I was a little girl, but I never thought it would actually come. Well inevitably it has, and I am off to UC Berkeley in the fall (Go bears!).

While I am beyond excited to follow in the footsteps of all of my family members and be at Cal, I don’t want to measure my high school success in terms of getting into a school that I am happy with. Because getting into (school of your dreams) is the pay off of years of hard work and pursuing things you are interested in. But in the greater scheme of life, I’d rather be a happy person with a good moral compass than to have gone to whatever school I ultimately desired. But I’m not here to lecture you about restructuring your values or realigning your moral compass. I just wish someone had told me earlier that life equates to more than telling people that you go to a great name college or whatever. You hear it all the time, but remember that YOU define your self-worth, not your friends, not even your parents, not the ads you see on TV and in magazines and certainly not the US News and Report college rankings. Make the most of where you are, who you are, and what makes you special and you will undoubtedly succeed.

High school for me was four years of tons and tons of work, always with the anticipation of college at the end of it all. But they were also very transformative and enjoyable. I did a lot of learning in classrooms all around Costa thanks to some pretty darn amazing teachers, but I think you learn your best and most important lessons outside the classroom. Here are some I think are the most important:

 Be uncomfortable.

I am someone who really likes my comfort bubble; I stick to what I like, and what is most familiar. While this is definitely the easier thing to do and provides for experiences with less conflict and struggle, seriously what is the fun in it? I have grown the most in high school by doing things that made me feel uncomfortable and pushed me outside my bubble of safety. Each Model UN speech I gave or time I anchored on the news was a new opportunity for me to be extremely uncomfortable, but also a time for me to realize what I can do. Sure this didn’t come without its fair share of mistakes, but I believe that the ends justify the means.

Go outside your comfort zone and test your limits, because that is where you will really realize all that you are capable of and where you will realize the most growth.

Self-compassion vs. self-esteem

You’ve heard it a million times, to have some self-esteem and self-belief. And if you, like tons of high school students around the world struggle with this, you’ve probably also heard how to try to get some more self-esteem.

And while I do definitely see the immense importance of believing you are totally awesome, I personally don’t think the way to be successful or happy is to focus on only the things you are good at and all the reasons you rock. You definitely need to give yourself credit where credit is due, but it amounts to more than that.

Instead of glorifying our strengths and disregarding our shortcomings, I think we instead must have the mindset of self-compassion. In high school I didn’t get perfect grades or achieve everything I wanted. And instead of focusing solely on the things that worked out in my favor, I think it’s important to adopt the mindset that to mess up, to be flawed, and to not get everything we aspire for is indeed human. And learning to accept and embrace this while not lowering the bar for yourself is a difficult yet rewarding thing to do.

FOR REAL JUST HAVE SOME FUN AND ENJOY IT

These years FLY BY. I vividly remember freshman year and now I am writing this reflection of my advice as a senior. High school is the last four years that you get to spend with the people you grew up with, its your last four years of truly being a kid before you go out to be independent in the real world, where you have real life obligations and stresses. Believe me I understand the stress of high school but don’t get too caught up in that to have some fun; it is all about finding the balance that is right for you. Enjoy your friends, go to the sports games, get involved. While I am ready to leave for college I know I’ll miss everything that Costa was. Cherish it while you have it, because it goes by way way way too fast.

All the best,

Hannah Daly