<p>today was my last day of high school. my friends felt sad, overjoyed, relieved, excited. i didn’t - and don’t - feel any of those things. more than anything, i’m annoyed. my best friend is hitting on the girl he knows i like, i’m working full-time this summer (and every other summer after this for 20, 30, maybe 40 years more), and the senior activities are boring and sentimental and long. i hated high school and was counting down the days, but now i’m realizing not how good i had it, but that life is just going to be more of the same and then worse.</p>
<p>this is supposed to be a monumental time in my life, but instead it feels like some crappy chore, like taking out the trash :/.</p>
<p>I am sorry you feel so trapped. I hope you can find things you are passionate about, and pursue them. </p>
<p>I don’t have very fond memories of high school, in fact afterwards I would have been satisfied never seeing that particular group of people again. For some of those people this is as good as life gets, but you have your entire future to look forward to…go make something great!</p>
<p>You’re too young to feel this way. Things only go bad after you graduate college. So cheer up: you have 4 more fun years. Maybe more if you do grad school ;)</p>
<p>The people who say the high school years are the best years of your life are so wrong, and they’re certainly not doing you any favors. I remember feeling so alienated at the end of it with all the senior stuff where you were supposed to feel sentimental and I was just wondering what was wrong with me for thinking “Good, it’s done, can I go now?”</p>
<p>College and even work are a lot more fun. It will get better.</p>
<p>My son felt much like you. He couldn’t wait to get out of high school–really didn’t enjoy it much. Then when it was over, he started worrying “what if this is as good as it gets?”.</p>
<p>My older son (25) is back in hometown working. Many of his high school friends are still here (never left)–for them high school never ended. You are ready to move on and begin the next phase of your life.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s a girl thing, but I remember getting very sentimental at the end of high school. It was 1971 and as part of the graduation, the class sang ,“For all we know, we may never meet again…” What with Vietnam, car accidents, cancer, suicides, etc., there are some that I never did meet again.</p>
<p>There is an art to enjoying the moment instead of always looking to the future.</p>
<p>ellenenope, I do think as a group girls embrace the sentimental more readily and like to “store memories”. I also agree that there is an art to enjoying the moment–an art as I get older, I am getting better at! With my kids, the one who is the most goal driven is the very one who has trouble relaxing and enjoying the moment—he is always looking ahead to possible pitfalls, goals to be met, etc.</p>
<p>I was SO ready to leave high school behind when I graduated (in the 70’s)-I found college to be amazing though (went to UCLA). I felt I could be much more myself without all that high school social drama. College was a wonderful,exciting,enriching time. I hope you’ll find it that way also. If you end up pursuing a field of study and work which you love and are rewarded by you will enjoy life.
I also agree with mkm56 regarding kids. My oldest is a driven, highly intellectual student-accepted to stanford for 2007- but he doesn’t relax easily and is always looking ahead to his achieving the next goal he sets for himself.</p>
<p>I am so very sorry that you find yourself feeling this way right now. I think that the Hallmark cards make us think that all of these transitions should be singularly joyful. Often they are not this one dimensional. I think it is a very common reaction to feel a let down after any significant accomplishment. I hope that your spirits lift soon and that you come to realize the myriad possibilities lying before you. The best part of YOUR life is yet to come, and I send you many positive thoughts and best wishes for your very bright future!</p>
<p>I hope you cheer up soon. You’ve looked forward to this moment (graduation) and now that’s it’s passed, and you’re wondering what’s next. I bet you’ll find college to be very different from your high school experience. I’ve found that it often happens that the kids who enjoy college the most weren’t so happy in high school. Best of luck to you!</p>