On My Mind: Color Outside the Lines

In high school, advice is coming at you from a million different directions from a million different outlets.

Most often it’s the cliché things moms yell from the front doorstep as you pull out of the driveway: “Make new friends! Make good choices! Be yourself!” Although these words of wisdom play like a broken record in our heads, they’re negated by the status quo.

You find your niche freshman year and don’t branch out a whole lot. You make mistakes. You go with the grain. And although all those things are contrary to what those older and wiser have told you, I’m here to weigh in with my own advice:

You’re doing it right.

Every cliché piece of advice you’ve rolled your eyes at was probably warranted. I’m hoping through this blog, I can do my part in convincing you that these statements can be interpreted differently than what your momma initially communicated to you. After all, my friends know that I’ve had a sitcom-of-a-high-school-experience, and looking back on the last three years of my life, I wouldn’t change a thing. And hey, I’m still here so I must’ve done something right.

***
Terrible Piece of Advice No. 1: Color outside the lines.

One of my favorite songs is “No Such Thing” by John Mayer. It was Mayer’s response to the standard high school practice of guidance counselors telling students to “stay inside the lines” when instead, it’s better to follow the path you want.

“I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world, just a lie you have to rise above.”

Although this dude has had his fair share of mistakes splashed all over the media, John has a point.

Even though I’ve played this song countless times, the meaning didn’t quite resound with my younger self. Whenever I colored outside the lines on a piece of artwork, I proceeded to go ballistic. I would get hung up over the smallest mistakes throughout my entire school career; I cried when I got my first B. However, now as a senior, I look back on the stretched-too-thin-wound-too-tight little girl I used to be and don’t even recognize myself.

Sure, the perfectionist in me hasn’t entirely faded away, but the social and academic mistakes I’ve made have humbled me, and they make for great stories. If you set a standard of perfection for yourself, you’re setting yourself up for failure. More often than not, this failure can lead to some of your greatest successes in discovering who you’re supposed to be.
So in short, my first piece of terrible advice for you is to look forward to what the real world will be like.

I can guarantee that your future employer or fiancé is not going to ask you what your class rank at East was.

Your peak will not be your senior football career.

Getting rejected by the guy you’ve had a crush on for years won’t mean you’ll end up a cat lady.

Parents, teachers and the like will tell you differently, but your four years of high school will be pretty boring if you play it safe. Embrace the mishaps of your adolescence as opportunities to grow. Know when it’s appropriate to listen to sound advice, but always look to color outside the lines.