Monday, September 16, 2013

High School Re-Do

It's the 5th week of the new school year and things have been going quite well! This is now my 3rd year at this school, so I know my way around and I'm actually pretty popular. Sweet! 

Not only am I in the school choir but I've also been on the Student Council for the past 2 years. I walk around the halls confidently as most students smile and say "Hi" when they see me pass them. After school most days I can be found in the school's gym working out or taking a yoga class. Every high school student's dream!

Life is good. 

If only it could have been this good while I was ACTUALLY IN HIGH SCHOOL!! No, I'm not a student, I'm the School Counselor and a teacher of grades 6-9. 

But I had this thought the other day. Am I trying to re-live or re-do my high school years living vicariously through my students? I think a part of me is. 

During high school (during the years 1999-2003 for me) I wasn't any of the things I listed above, except I have always been in the school choir...but that was more of a dorky thing. I had moved from a small, private school to the large, public high school. I was overwhelmed! 

I'm naturally quite shy and definitely a home-body so making new friends in high school wasn't the easiest for me. I started 9th grade as a quiet, chubby girl who loved *NSYNC and Britney Spears. I was a great student but didn't participate in extra-curricular events. Most weekends, I hung out with my family, especially my 2 sisters. How cool is that?!?!

I was the girl who wore pajama pants every day to school while sporting black, boys' band t-shirts, supporting Rancid, Good Charlotte and Less Than Jake. I got my lip and nose pierced and decided that I didn't care to make friends with anyone at my school because they weren't cool anyways! A few years, many tears, and a bout of depression later, I was able to pick myself up again. 

Fast-Forward TEN YEARS LATER (OMG!!!! I'm getting so OLD!) and I still look back on high school as an awkward and overall, LAME time for me. Maybe I was a late bloomer?? I didn't have a first date or drink until college (sophomore year that is) and adjusting to that was a bumpy road.

It wasn't until I became an R.A. (resident assistant) my senior year of college when everything started to come full circle. It had never occurred to me that because of what I went through, I could now RELATE to people, especially those newbie freshmen! In fact, this year-long stint is what gave me the inspiration to become a school counselor and it resulted in giving me 2 of my life-long best friends who were my freshmen residents! 

So now...here I am, given the chance to RE-DO my high school years, to some extent. And not only that, but I have the opportunity to find those shy, awkward girls and boys and perhaps give them some hope that high school is only a brief period in our lives. We will change and won't always have to be remembered as we were those 4 years. 

Look at me. I'm 28 years old. Living and working in a foreign country and traveling to many others, while doing work that I really care about. I have earned my bachelor and master degrees. I've got a great relationship and wonderful friends: some new, some old. And hey, I wasn't even on the Facebook invite list to my 10 year high school reunion that went down this past summer! So while I may still be remembered (or forgotten) by some as a dorky-nobody, I have created my present to suit me, putting old reputations behind me and forging a future that can be anything I put my heart and mind to...Regardless of those weird years, long ago.

Comment below and Share how YOU have changed since High School!!

Peace xx
Tara
Me in the center with my 2 sisters and Best friends during H.S.

Loner Tara...Typical during H.S. and Early College Years
The 2 Best Girls I met while being their R.A...Still my best friends Today!


Me today- 28, happy and confident :)


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