24 Oct 2019

I will never forget my very last high school exam.

As the examiner announced “Pencils down”, I felt my burdens evaporate. My bombarded brain crammed with facts and statistics could finally let it all go. The stresses of upcoming exams, of not studying enough, of just feeling overwhelmed and frazzled, all disappeared. As I stalked out of the exam hall like a bat out of hell I went straight to the beach to relax. Day one of freedom began.

Whatever the exams, whether they're for high school or uni, whether they're your first or last, it's easy to get caught up in studying, studying and more studying. There’s no coincidence that the word dying is in studying. But when that last exam is over, you can rise like a phoenix from the ashes, resurrected into a new stage of liberation… Okay, that was pretty dramatic, but hey, my last high school exam was for Drama class so can you blame me?

When exams are over, you can finally indulge in sleep-ins without bringing study notes to the breakfast table. Say goodbye to stressful all-nighters, cramming as much information as possible and say hello to all-nighters spent marathoning all the Harry Potter movies or having cheeky beers with your mates instead. 

After exams, you suddenly have all this spare time. You have time to find old and new hobbies. Get back into playing the guitar, learn to surf, get back into journaling and start reading more books. You have the time to experiment and muck around. Buy fabric and learn to sew, grab an old film camera, nick your mate's skateboard... All the things you pushed to the side because of exams can come out of a slumber.

You know when all you want to do is spend a few days at the beach doing nothing, but you would feel too guilty because you should be studying for upcoming exams? Hah! No more of that! Guilt-free time wastage is what you can look forward to after your exams. You can spend days soaking up the sun on the beach or reading a good book in the park. Sit around with family and friends, host bonfires and parties. Go for long bush walks and watch a whole tv series in a day.

When exams are done, you have more time to work...Um...Yay...? But do you know what that means? You can earn dosh to travel with, to move out of home with, to buy a new car with or to go on a shopping spree with. Not only can you earn mulla, jobs allow you to make new friends, learn new skills, experience hilarious stories and of course, look great on your resume.

When exams are over, you have time to make new goals and ambitions and actually focus on them, no matter how big or small they are. Maybe that's studying for the next term, maybe that's finding a new job, maybe that's earning enough money to travel to Thailand with... You finally have time to focus on your dreams. That's pretty neat.

Look forward to being a free bird when your exams are over. Strut out of that last exam as if in slow motion in a movie scene whilst 'School's Out' by Alice Cooper plays and just go send it!