I loved school

A person I worked with was shocked when I mentioned that I loved my school days the other day. His response was, "you need to see someone", which could only mean that he thought I was a little crazy.


But I did. I loved learning, I loved my teachers, I loved my uniform. I loved the fact that I got to see my best friend every day without fail. Heck, I'll even admit that I loved doing homework. I was very involved in the school as a whole which made it easy to enjoy my days there.


It's been two years since I completed my schooling and I wouldn't go back. I wouldn't re-live my school days. They happened and, at this point in my life, they form some of my best memories but when I finished, I was ready to finish. Life was waiting for me and I was ready to live it.


I cried when I left. I cried a lot. Not because I thought the world was coming to an end because I was leaving but because leaving school went hand in hand with leaving the country I grew up in. Not only would I not be seeing my best friend every day but the chances of seeing her even once a year were slim. That's what made me cry.

Everything, while it didn't seem that way at the time, was simpler then. The single sex, Catholic school I attended protected me from reality in a way I didn't realise until I had to live outside it's walls. I won't deny that reality is great. I'm free to do what I like, when I like with the people I like. But reality can be tough too and that's exactly what my last two years of reality have been: tough but great.


Sometimes my "inner voice", if you will, manages to convince me that I've accomplished very little within these last two years. It's mean and makes me feel fairly inadequate but when I pull myself out of that type of reflection I realise that I've done a lot.


I've moved eleven thousand kilometers across the world, settled down in a different country, been an pair, learnt to cook, figured out what I want to study (even though I'm constantly second guessing myself about that one), earned my own money and learnt to drive. I've accomplished plenty and I need to remember that in order to avoid slipping into a sour mindset.


In her farewell speech to the school, my best friend made a comment that I need to remind myself of on a regular basis, "Now is the time for us to shine, the time when our dreams  are in reach and possibilities vast. Now is the time for all of us to become the people we always dreamed of being. This is your world. You're here. You matter..."