How To Handle Change

I walked into my first year of grade nine confident and excited for what this new year had to offer. I knew that I had a great group of friends who were thoughtful and cared about my safety and their own. I knew they would never intentionally pressure or hurt me. While all of this is still true, there are a few aspects of high school and its effects on the people around you I was not exactly prepared for. I handled these things as well as one could hope, but still, there are a few things I have learned from this past year that I would like to share with those of you starting high school. I’m hoping to help ease your transition so that it results in an amazing year!

The main thing I want to talk about is change. Change can and should be expected throughout life, especially when it comes to high school. Change is not all bad, nobody is the same as they were when they were two.

Change helps us grow and become who we are today; however, sometimes changes can result in a trip down the wrong path. The biggest and most likely changes you will face in high school are your friends and peers experimenting with dangerous things like drugs and alcohol.

As a result of this, you may start to see the person you knew fade away and change completely, but how do you make sure this doesn’t happen to you? To make it brief, the best way to handle change is to ensure that you don’t do it because of pressure. That isn’t to say that you can’t change at all, in fact, I hope that each person grows as they get older and changes in a way which betters their life. Still, my point is that you should never change your path to travel down someone else’s; change because you want to. This year I’ve dealt with this situation a lot. I felt like maybe things would be easier if I just gave in to the change happening around me, even though personally, I didn’t want to.

This is why I think it is so incredibly important to stay true to yourself in these situations because, in the end, you are the only one that has to live with the future that you made for yourself.

How can one stay true to oneself? It is hard, trust me, I have slipped away a few times before, but always managed to find my way back. Here are just a few tips I would like to share for staying true to yourself.

Know your values

In order to know that you are doing what is right for you and your journey, you must first understand who you are at the core so you can ensure you do not stray. I personally decided before I went into high school that I didn’t want to participate in the reckless things I knew my peers might (drinking, smoking etc.). This really helped me out because I knew what I didn’t want to do. It made it much easier to handle the hard decisions I was faced with and in the process, stay true to myself.

Surround yourself with good people 

Look, I am not going to tell you that even your closest, most trusted friends won’t make a few choices which you perceive as questionable, because they will, but I would just like to stress the importance of having supportive people around you. These people will remind you of who you are when you are beginning to forget. One of the most common and easiest ways people find themselves in a situation they didn’t want to be in is peer pressure. The most dangerous thing about peer pressure is you often don’t see it coming, which is why it is so important to have people you trust around you. Before you even find yourself in any kind of dangerous situations, have a conversation with your close friends about things that make you feel uncomfortable. I guarantee that if these friends truly love and care about you, they will take this to heart and avoid putting you in these uncomfortable situations.

Keep a journal

Aside from the fact that journals are an incredible source of relief and general mental clarity, they can really help you remember who you are. If you have had a journal for some time now, it can be really helpful to look back on old entries and think about what that person would think of who you are now. Even if you start a journal today, just writing down your opinion will help you justify it and remind yourself of who you are at heart. It sounds weird, but I swear if you try it you’ll understand what I mean. It’s as if you are writing a letter about yourself from your heart and sending it to your brain; telling yourself about you. Through this, I promise, you will get to know yourself much better.

To wrap this up, I would just like to remind you that change is inevitable; it cannot be avoided. So instead of running away or getting caught up in it, learn how to deal with it when it confronts you head on.  The best way is to stay true to yourself.  Whether it’s through the ways I discussed or some other way, whatever works for you. Remember that this is your journey. Though you will travel alongside some people for part of your journey, in the end, you’re the one left with the path you leave for yourself and the legacy you leave behind. So do what you want to do and be proud of who you are and who you become, and most importantly, stay true to you.