Walking into high school the first day as a plucky freshman, I didn’t expect it to be so eventful. Not only did I trip up the stairs leading to the SAC (yes, up, not down), bringing a giant upperclassman down with me within the first hour, but I also ran right into the school’s senior star football player to top off my day. I was a tad discouraged about how I would do here, to say the least.

I thought this must have been how every day would go. My days would be a few embarrassing moments woven in between my classes, and I would just have to deal with it. I knew for sure that high school would be a drag.

To my surprise, freshman year did not end up to be a series of embarrassing moments, but rather just a personal adjustment to high school. Sophomore year passed, and I gained new friends and lost old ones. Junior year passed, and friends came and went with the additional stress of getting perfect grades and a perfect ACT score.

I was caught up in the hustle and bustle of high school and was always worrying about what would come next. How will I do on that chemistry test? When’s our next late arrival? How am I going to pass my calculus class? What am I going to eat for lunch today because I am definitely not paying $3.75 for a cup of a few celery sticks and a mountain of cheese from the cafeteria?

Now, four years later, I look back and realize that I spent so much of high school just worrying about the future. The younger version of me would have been aching to leave Northbrook, but at this point there are few places I would rather be. Here I am now, almost 18 years old with mere weeks until graduation, and I am going to miss high school more than I ever could have imagined.

Senior year is when many people find out what kind of person they want to be. That happened to me, and now that I’m situated and completely myself with the people I talk to, I can’t imagine leaving Northbrook. I’ve developed the most genuine relationships this year and find it unthinkable to leave them.

Had my freshman self simply quit walking on eggshells, and had my sophomore self opened up more to people, and had my junior self been fearless about hanging out with my friends sometimes instead of finishing up an essay, I might feel differently. I might be fully ready and developed enough to be on my way out of Glenbrook North.

If I could tell my younger self one thing to keep in mind through high school, it would be to recognize what is holding her back and force herself to let it go. That is the single best way to develop as a person and get the most out of high school. I could have met the amazing people that I met this year earlier on and had more time with them while being my authentic self.

No matter what, high school was amazing and senior year has been the best year of my life because I was totally and completely myself. Underclassmen, take note: get the most out of high school by stepping out of your comfort zone … and do it quickly.