Transitioning Conundrum

There are many things in life that cannot be fully taught and have to be experienced by a person to know everything about them. This is true with things like having friends abandon a person, dealing with a divorce, and having to run suicide sprints at a soccer practice. Sure, you can learn things about these subjects and gain a base knowledge of what typically happens, but until a person experiences them all they will have is just that base knowledge and nothing of the true feelings that come forth in those situations when they are experienced. One experience, however, is the one that every high school senior dreads: the great transition from grade school into their early adult lives.

The reason for the concern is actually quite simple: the majority have no idea what’s next for them. Sure, there’s college, but college is the equivalent of another world for a group of people who have been together since high school. While moving up the ranks in grade school, it’s not nearly as daunting as it could be since a person has the knowledge that they’ll be in the (relative) same place, not be far from their childhood home, and have confirmed friends on the first day. The transition to college, however, completely dumps all of these out the window. Friends are more than likely going to different colleges in different areas of the nation and even the world that will most likely be miles away from their parent’s home.

This is why the transition to college is daunting, but if a person were to choose not to go to college I can only imagine how daunting it is for them. Without a higher education than a high school diploma, how will they provide for themselves and get what they’ve always wanted without having to work at a job they don’t like? Are they really confident they don’t want to deal with a couple years more of school and have a confirmed relatively well-paying job?

While both of these lists go on, the overall reason it’s so daunting transitioning from one chapter of life to the other is because of the drastic change that can be unpredictable to some and only overpredicted to others. All I wish is that, no matter what path we all choose, we all have fun and enjoy life no matter what, even if we have more research assignments or more checks to balance.