Senior year is the year where you start thinking about if you want to go to college, go to the military, choose to do a gap year or even not go to college. 

Sometimes peers and even adults expect students to have everything all together by the time senior year comes around, asking: What do you want to do after high school? Are you planning to go to college or are you going to the military?

 It’s okay to not have everything planned by the time you leave high school. 

Having everything figured out is overrated. High school seniors should have the ability to enjoy their last 10 months of high school without being asked about their plans after graduation. They shouldn’t have to feel the stress of trying to have everything planned. 

When you try to have everything planned and figured out, it can lead to stress and anxiety that you don’t need after graduating and throughout high school. Trying to figure out future plans while still trying to finish out school is hard.

“Planning and self-control work in tandem,” according to Psychology Today. “Both mental activities involve not only thinking about the future but also making decisions in the present that will lead to a better, more desired outcome while avoiding any possible obstacles and temptations along the way. In short, they require a degree of mental effort.”

Doing day-to-day activities while planning the future puts too much pressure onto a person, letting that power of stress take over someone’s body. This initial idea of trying to multitask isn’t always the best idea. Sometimes it’s best to stay in the present moment, rather than letting yourself feel the heat of the future.

High school and life after high school is the opportunity to let you take the time to learn who you are as a person. It’s a place where you can take as many elective classes as you want, to see what you enjoy and what you don’t enjoy. 

Not having everything figured out can lead you to expose yourself to many opportunities and options. This could also lead to new relationships with others. This “plan” isn’t something you need to figure out right away. You’re still learning how to be a young adult to a world that offers a lot of different routes to take on. 

That extra pressure of needing to know what you want to do is something that you don’t need to worry about. 

Letting yourself explore and learn who you are after high school is important because there’s something that you might’ve liked doing in high school, but probably not something you probably want to continue after.

You’re just graduating from high school and embracing everything that is coming with not knowing what you do in life which could lead to bigger things and bigger opportunities. Have fun with the time that you have as a young adult. 

Let yourself be young and enjoy life while it’s here.