High school lessons and real life

Have you ever sat in class wondering to yourself about the purpose of the material you’re learning? Like seriously, what is the point of this? How will this help me in real life?

This is a question that teens have been asking themselves for years. (I know because I’ve been there, done that.)

Yet after graduation, you may be surprised to learn that some of the lessons have actually turned out to be useful in real life — be they academic lessons, informal lessons, or relationship lessons.

But here’s the thing: It’s hard to know which lessons will impact our lives until much later on in life. So, I reached out to a number of accomplished women — from recent grads to grandmothers — and asked them to share the most significant and useful lessons they learned from high school, as well as the subjects they wished they could have learned.

As I listened to the replies, I pictured these women as students, laid-back and carefree. As students, did they know which lessons (some of them informally learned), would ignite sparks in the future and significantly help and inspire them later in life? And just like the Chanukah oil burned for longer than expected, so too some of these high school lessons lasted for decades….

So, to all you teens out there, the lessons you learn today, whether in school or out, may just keep you growing and thriving years down the road. You never know….

Make the most of your high school years

Relationships. You probably will botch up at some point. Don’t be too hard on yourself, but do learn from your mistakes before life becomes more complicated.

Forge meaningful, lifelong friendships. Don’t spend all your time running after the popular girls. Those with the best high school jobs, and the “in-girls” lose their luster pretty fast. Try to focus on creating meaningful friendships with girls with real substance, with whom you share interests. These are girls you can really learn and gain from, and these are the friendships that stand the greatest chance of lasting into the future.

Juggling: It’s a real thing. Experience is the best teacher, and you can start learning this now.

You may not ace every test (or even make it into the eighties). But you can still come out with the skill that is way more important than any of the test material — and that’s learning how to prioritize, juggle, and handle stressful situations. If you view your finals through this lens, it will change your perspective.

Keep things in perspective. High school is only four years of your life. If you’re not cut out for school, try looking at the bigger picture. While you’re going through it, it may seem like forever, but really, the rest of your life is ahead of you. There are so many wonderful surprises around the corner, even (especially!) for students that don’t succeed in high school.