Graduation is one of the most pivotal moments in a young persons life. Most teenagers and young adults are so ready to start there adult lifestyles that they rush through high school and forget to enjoy the exciting moments of their youth. High school holds so many memories and encounters that a normal adult would never be able to experience, friendships are so very important, relationships are way to serious and every little detail is greatly dramatized. Unfortunately, most students are blind to the fact that life after high school isn’t so glamorous. Graduation day for most people is the day of freedom, but what most people don’t realize is graduation day is the day that you become a responsible, self-sufficient adult. “Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody,” stated Patrick from film The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Sadly, everyone must grow up.
Graduation day, June 12th 2012, was one of the most exciting, scary days I have ever experienced. I was always the student who hated high school and was going to leave and never return, but regardless of my facetious attitude I was the first to cry. Even now, almost two years later I still get a nauseous feeling when I think of that day, the scary realism of growing up. I truly don’t remember much about that day, I remember tossing my cap in the air and hoping I didn’t fall flat on my face. Of course senior week was fun, but when I got back everything was different. When a bill came I was responsible, when my gas light came on I had to fill it. I’ve always been a responsible for myself and always earned my own money but when you truly start being an independent adult, you realize how hard it is for parents or just to support yourself. These things are trivial but when I went to pick up the phone and call my best friend, I remembered that Western Carolina University is almost three hours away. “So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be,” just as Stephen Chobsky wrote in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, life is constantly changing and growing up is hard but you have to deal with the hand that you are dealt. Once August rolled around and I started college for the first time it hit me that my friends were gone and I didn’t get to return to my comfort zone at Bunker Hill High School, instead I started a brand new school all by myself.
Life is all about the choices we make, especially when we are young. Life does not stop for anyone, but it takes a special person to rise above and make their own lives better. Growing up is hard, no matter how good or easy ones life is, the transition from high school to being a full on adult is hard; in todays society the stresses of most young people are even greater with the increased rate of teenage pregnancy and the radical divorce rate. These factors are just another contributor to the everyday stresses of most young people.
