A lot of people will tell you stories about high school life — things they did in their freshman year, what they wore the first day of high school and cliche things like that. I’m not going to be cliche, though I am going to be blunt.

School is more than who wears what, who hangs out with who and definitely should not be “let’s all stay on the same page” — never be afraid to go above and beyond, read a chapter ahead, take excessive notes — who cares if you didn’t brush your hair today? Your future career doesn’t care.

My first year of high school I was your stereotypical bullied girl. I got petty notes in my locker, shoved in the hallway and eventually pretty much beat up in the locker room. Rumors spread all throughout my school and often times I would find myself locked in the bathroom crying until I threw up.

High school is not always glitter eyeliner and funky converse, sometimes it is the definition of chaos. Personally, I made bad choices. I skipped school at any cost and never cared about passing my classes because all that I cared about was not being around the people at school.

As one can imagine I was forced to go to school so I started hanging out with the boys. I really enjoyed myself because I didn’t have to care about someone borrowing my lipgloss or talking about which guys they wanted to sleep with at the lunch table. I was 14 years old, I had no interest in conversing about what went on in the janitor’s closet or speech practice rooms between couples. I became the slut of the school, because I preferred to sit at lunch with boys. I was branded with filthy names for the rest of the years, and after a while it became a huge joke that I even called myself the names just to let people know that it really didn’t bother me.

I started getting invited to parties with my senior friends, eventually I decided to go for it, bad choice number two; I ended up drugged, and in a room alone with a boy who didn’t care I was only 14, he didn’t care about anything except keeping me quiet. That is the reality of our world. Choices are up to you, we will always have a decision to make, and making the right one isn’t always easy or beneficial to you at the time; choices need to be based off of what will be best for you and your future.

The next day, the slut of the school walked around in a daze, people were talking to me but I could barely focus on their words out of sheer embarrassment and disbelief of what I had done. What choice I had made. But that also lead me to realize something else; some choices you make– and more importantly, the outcome of those choices are simply not your fault, and you must move on with your life and make the best of what you’ve got.

We are, whether we like it or not, at an impressionable age; we demand to be treated at adults but cry like children when given the opposite. The road to success is made for you by you, the only way to achieve that is to grow up. So don’t be “that guy/girl”, be the person that people look up to and admire. Aspire for greatness, and even at your lowest points where you feel like you cannot continue, always remember that you are not the only one, and that the only person who can significantly impact your life is you. Everybody makes mistakes, but it’s how you rise above them that defines you.