In High School, you’re supposed to learn who you are right? Yet people tend to let others create their own personality then letting themselves decide who they want to be. It doesn’t seem right but it happens a lot more than people realize. 

There are so many aspects of high school that are deciding factors in how well those four years go for you. One of the most important aspects is your group of friends. If you hand out with certain crowds then you won’t be accepted by others. And if you don’t hang out with the “in” crowd you normally don’t have that amazing of a party/social life. Well, with those people anyway. You may with your group of friends, but it won’t be those amazing parties almost every weekend, that everyone talks about on that following Monday. Sure you’re happy with your group of friends and whatever you do with them on the weekend, but in the back of everyone’s head theres always that little voice wondering what it would be like to be one of those people. Even if you refuse to admit it out loud, there is one point in every high school students four years there, when they think about what it would be like to be in that in crowd. 

But when you’re in that crowd, do they ever wonder what it would be like to not go out partying all the time, and actually remember what they did over the weekend. Then there’s the factor of, what if they only stay friends with these people so that they’ll be considered popular and cool. Do they have other friends that wouldn’t be accepted by their ‘popular friends’? And if they do what do their friends think about them practically using other people just so that everyone else sees them as a part of the “in” crowd. 

Honestly, in high school, you can never really do anything right. Even if you’re someone who doesn’t do anything wrong, and who does their best in school, a loyal friend and someone who just wants to have a good time. It seems like everyone would like someone like this, because they don’t mean any harm to anyone and they’re generally a good person. But there’s always at least one person who doesn’t like that “perfect” person. They may not know why they hate them, but they do and no one really understands it. And here’s where more comes into play, a lot of people in high school tend to not like a lot of the people that are with the “in” crowd. So why are they so popular, if so few people like them? One word, Politics. 

No matter how far away most teenagers want to be from politics, you never really get away from them. There’s politics in high school sports, the way that they teachers teach, the teachers hired, the grading system, the cliques of people, the way that you are looked at because of what you’ve done in the past and in your friends. Even if you don’t notice it, politics is everywhere in high school. If you decided to go out and hook up with some random guy, the politic side of high school will make a majority of the students look down on you as a person. Even if they’re you’re friends. Its built into us since birth. Some are very blunt about being judgmental and political, others keep it to themselves… but it’s still there in the back of your mind. No matter how much you want it not to be there, it’s always will be, unfortunately you don’t always have a choice in the matter of what your mind thinks sometimes. 

So how can you learn who you truly are, if all these things are going around you? With trying to please everyone, you end up not pleasing yourself sometimes. And when you’re trying to fit into a certain group of people, you normally can’t be who you really are, you have to be the kind of person they want you to be. You have to fit into your mold. But then again, if you refuse to be one of those people, and decide to really follow what you believe in and make decisions based on what you think is right, then you might come out of high school with being able to start to learn who you are. The process isn’t complete yet, but it’s a good start. That is, if you only decide to stay to you and not what everyone else wants or expects you to be.