Wow this past year has been crazy. Looking back to who I was a year ago vs today, life has changed so much for me. Last year I lived with my parents in Burnaby and now I live in Tsawwassen with my Aunt and Uncle. Then covid happened and fast forward to today, I just graduated. Like what. Life happens fast, and sometimes it is hard to process changes. They say people are scared of change, but it’s actually the work that needs to be done for the change to occur that makes people afraid. This is because when we think of change, the first thought we have is the outcome. We set these expectations of the end result that we miss out on enjoying the process. We can also look at our goals in this way. By focusing so much on our “destination” we miss out on the experiences, and lessons along the way. There are two types of changes, planned and unplanned. A planned change could be moving schools, joining a new club, dying your hair, etc. These are easier adjustments because you expect the changes. Then there are the unplanned changes, like covid -_-. Changes like these can cause feelings of stress, feeling overwhelmed, and fear. The scary part about change is 1. not living up to the expectations you have set for yourself 2. not knowing what to expect. Sometimes, there are moments in life when change is inevitable. Personally, I think this is the hardest one to experience because when you know change is coming, you have more time to feel anxious. For me this was graduation. Graduation is a bittersweet experience because it is a celebration of your accomplishments of your past 5 years in highschool, but simultaneously you know that it is the end of this chapter of your life. HOwever, we can also see this as the start of a new chapter :) Moving forward with life is a difficult process and honestly a hard concept to accept. And it is natural for us humans to feel self doubt, anxiety, and fear when change is to come. An example of this can be moving out of your parents home. But when once you can start accepting change, you can adapt and learn. Some reasons why people struggle with moving forward is because letting go of the past is hard, and holding onto old habits and patterns is comfortable. It is important to remember that change is inevitable. Life is always changing, and as humans we must constantly adjust, if not that's when feelings of staticity arise. This happens when you don’t feel like anything significant in your life is happening, like you’re just existing. Feeling this way is normal, but if it's prolonged, it can lead to signs of depression. To maintain happiness and live a life thriving, we need to adapt to changes, and embrace the process. Without change, there is no growth. When you hold an open mind to the shifts in your life, keep a focus of what is ahead and hold onto positive life lessons, new paths get created. Here are some tips to remember to help move through change: 1. forget the past There's this quote that goes “never compare your life to what it was yesterday”. Basically remember that experiences are a part of your personal growth and to utilize them. Don’t look at the negative moments as something that holds you back, but rather as fuel to move you forward. Letting go of the past allows you to be present and ready for a fresh start. Releasing any toxicity/ negativity can help create new perspectives and focus. 2. support Don’t feel that you have to go through things alone. Find someone you can go to that encourages your growth. Through new opportunities, you can create new goals, meet new people and gain different perspectives that boost your life quality. 3. find escapes Remember that having bad days is not a sign of weakness. ANd that it is okay to feel overwhelmed with change. Finding escapes such as meditation, nature walks, or reading can be helpful to take your focus away from any negative energy 4. patience Change can happen slow or fast, but just because it doesn’t work out in the beginning doesn’t mean it never will. LEt change run its course, be gentle with yourself. For the seniors in this class, whether you have a plan or no plan, just know that you will be okay. Don’t stress and just have fun please. FOr the rest of you, good luck senior year babes. Semester system is coming and she’s gonna be interesting for you.
Kaysey H
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They say high school prepares you for life. Well, I graduated yesterday and I’m still terrified of my future. Technically I didn’t graduate yet because I still don’t have my diplomas and I have another two weeks or so of french. But still, I wore the cap and gown and I walked across the stage. It was a lot more underwhelming than I thought it would be, but I guess that’s because I walked in front of about twenty people rather than hundreds of them. After it was over, everyone I talked to asked me one question: “So how does it feel to graduate from high school?” After being asked this question about twenty five times, I started to reflect. How was high school? When I think of the ups and downs of high school, my mind is drawn to the negative. I certainly had my fair share of downs. I fought with (and lost) friends, I struggled with keeping on top of my school work and extracurricular activities, I argued with family and I battled some mental health and confidence issues. I had bad teachers. I let people down, I let myself down. There have been times when I have been a shitty friend and student. I worked through a lot of negatives. There were days where I wouldn’t have a place to eat so I’d walk around until I found someone I knew. There were fights where I walked away as I thought about punching my best friend in the face. There were times that I felt really self-critical and times that I felt self-conscious over nothing and proceeded to feel guilty about that. But haven’t we all? Isn’t that what high school is about? The more I think about the bad experiences, the more I come up with reasons why those led to better ones. I grew through every single one of those experiences. Good and bad. I learned about toxicity and what that means for me. I learned about what kind of person I am, and the kind of people I like to have in my life. I gained a best friend for life. I grew closer with my parents and my brother. I became a better friend. I am becoming a better student. I am learning how to take care of myself. I’m learning how to bite off an amount that I can chew. I dealt with bad teachers, classmates and co-workers, the way I will have to for the rest of my life. I learned how to hold my tongue and think before I speak. I learned that sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth and that’s okay. You can’t control people. And that’s okay. I learned, I grew, I matured. The person I am on my way to becoming, is born from these high school experiences, through trial and error. There’s no way to teach this. There’s no way for you to study and learn this without actually doing it. You have to go to school, be a kid. You’ll make mistakes, you’ll be an idiot, you’ll get in trouble. That’s life. Maybe high school academics don’t prepare you for life, maybe it’s that not so obvious personal development, that secret “becoming a better human” that does. When I think about all of this, of how prepared I actually am and the people I’ll have in my corner, the future doesn’t look so scary after all.
Nevada J I honestly feel selfish. I feel selfish for continuously thinking about everything I am missing and the fact that I keep fucking crying over graduation. I feel like a horrible and ungrateful person for pitying myself for even one second when I am stuck in a nice house, surrounded by my family with food in our fridge and millions of things that I can do to keep busy. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people are dying and suffering around the world, and I can’t let it go that the end of my Grade 12 year has been ruined. This blog will probably make me sound like a horrible, pessimistic and self-centered person, but I need to write about it. Hopefully writing this blog will release a bit of tension that is causing me so much pain.
As we all know school has been suspended indefinitely due to COVID-19. But let’s face it; this school year is over. Coming to terms with this fact has been very difficult for me. If you know me then you know that I actually enjoy school because I get to hangout with my friends all day and all my teachers are great, I love my classes and I actually love learning new things. Ever since grade 8 I knew that I needed to cherish highschool because I knew that I would miss it once I graduated. So I tried to go into every day knowing that my days at SDSS were limited. But having the end of my graduation year suddenly be taken away and me being powerless against it makes me so fucking mad and so completely devastated. I've missed and will miss so many experiences in the next 2 months that I will never ever get the chance to do over. Last week we were told that the West Coast Trail trip is canceled. For people that don't know, the WCT is a 75km hike that the school gives grade 12 students the opportunity to go on. My older brother and cousin both did this and both said that it was the best part about each of their high school experiences. I’m not going to get the chance again to go on a week-long hike with friends and some other kids in grade 12 that I wanted to get to know better or the 4 great teachers that were going with us. That’s only one example of something amazing I will miss. Trying to suddenly come to terms with the fact that I won’t get the graduation I've been working hard for for the past 5 years and that I have been thinking about and looking forward to since I can remember is heartbreaking. Everyone obviously will have to deal with moving on from high school and looking forward into the future, and even if you don't actually like school there is still something sad and hard about saying goodbye to the last 5 years of your life and essentially some level of childhood. After high school you’re pushed into the beginning of the “real world”, and whatever that looks like for each person it can be scary. I knew that I would have a really hard time saying goodbye to high school in general but I also can’t properly say goodbye to teachers or friends and the people that I’ve grown up with that I know I probably see won’t again. No one knows what kind of graduation we will get, if we get one at all, and it’s frustrating because it’s absolutely nobody's fault. I actually originally had quite a different topic to talk about that I had set up for this blog and I’m not sure what the point of writing this was because there aren't any tips or whatever to help you grow as a leader, I guess this was just to rant and get it all out. But I will say this, something really important that everyone needs to hear and genuinely understand; take nothing for granted. The thing about taking things for granted is that you don’t realize it until it’s gone. I’m glad I never took high school for granted because I have loved and cherished every unforgetable moment, stupid decision, fucking useless math test and every horribly stressful time throughout my 5 years at SD. I can look back at my high school experience without any regret because even though I am missing the best parts, I know that I can’t do anything about it except instead to think of all the great things I’ve gotten the chance to do over the years of being a devil. This experience of losing something very important to me has made me grateful that I was always treasuring attending SD because I knew that I would miss it. If I hadn’t done that then this would seem more sudden than it already does and be a lot more painful. So take nothing for granted because you never know when something as crazy and random as a worldwide pandemic will come along and fuck things up. Stay healthy and safe xx Georgia F As a little kid I never imagined how hard it would be to say goodbye to things I had known for practically my whole life. I had never really thought about it, but as I got older I realized how hard it was. I realized that saying goodbye to people or things never gets easier as time goes on no matter how many times you have to do it. Saying goodbye doesn’t always mean that someone has passed away, it could also mean someone moved has moved away, or you’re moving into a new chapter in life. In my life there has been two distinct times I have had to say goodbye and one that is coming up soon. The first one was in April 2011 when I was diagnosed with a chronic disease, that would change me. I had to leave life as I knew it behind. A website that really helped me after being diagnosed was https://crohnsandcolitis.ca/ a website and foundation for people diagnosed with crohn’s or colitis. The second was in 2015 after my brother graduated from high school and was moving into residence at UBC. We had always been really close as kids and the fact that I wasn’t going to see him everyday got me upset sometimes. There were times when I would be lying in bed at night thinking and just start to cry because of how much I miss not having him around. I had never thought about life after he moved out and how much it would change my own life. The final thing that is coming up quite soon is graduation, which is something I am nervous about and also excited as I will be moving into a new chapter in my life. I am moving to Winnipeg in August, away from everyone and everything I know and am used to. I wanted a change after high school but also wanted to keep going to school. I will have to say goodbye to my family and I won’t get to see them everyday which is also nerve racking for me. Saying goodbye is difficult but is something we all have to do. Christina C |
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