21 Nov 2019

Most people finish school afraid. Afraid of deciding what to do next, afraid of leaving their mates, afraid of the unknown.

If you were a loner at school, you’ll agree when I say that graduating was one of the best things that could possibly happen. Goodbye to my “mates”, goodbye to this solitary existence I lead and a big, warm welcome to the unknown.

School for me was just a bunch of people that couldn’t relate to me, and I couldn’t relate to them. Students and teachers alike – I just never seemed to click with anyone. I wasn’t into sports or gossiping, or any of the stuff that “normal” people are supposed to be into.

So, was I afraid to graduate?

Of course I was.

I was keen to get out of school, no doubt about that. I was ready to leave that place and never look back.

But in the back of my mind, I believed that I’d just be transitioning from being a loner at school, to being a loner at uni. New people, same weird old me. At school, I had already accepted that I was a loner. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go through that whole process again.

Little did I know, though, is that uni is nothing like school. And neither is TAFE, or college, or traveling, or your new job. School is like its own little bubble that bursts when you graduate, never to be seen again.

At school, your choices are limited. Your parents decide where you go, and for the majority of the twelve years you’re there, you don’t choose your subjects.

You’re following a strict path. Your potential friends are your fellow students, and that usually simply comprises of the other kids from your hometown. Everyone has different interests, different goals, different ideas of what ‘normal’ is and different ideas of what ‘fun’ is.

But when you finish school, all that changes. When you finish school, you decide what to do. Most people go on to study further and most people study something that interests them.

And here’s the best part: when you study something that interests you, you’ll find you have at least one thing in common with your classmates. One mutual interest. You all have some common ground.

You can relate to them and they can relate to you.

You’re gonna be meeting people from all over your state, all over the country, all over the world. People with absolutely nothing in common to the kids and teachers back home. People with way more in common than you thought possible.

You’ll meet people who were also loners at school and you will meet people who went to schools where you would have had a flourishing tribe of mates.

You’re gonna get to know these people, and without even noticing it happening, you’ll start to make friends. You’ll meet their friends and make more of your own. One day you’ll realise that you’re not even a loner anymore. It’ll strike you out of nowhere and I guarantee that you’ll smile.

Being misunderstood at school is no biggie. It might suck at the time, or you might enjoy having the space. But once you break free of Year 12 and get thrust into the real world, you’ll start to realize just how small a cross-section of the world high school really gives you.