Hephzibah

Exactly a year ago, I rocked the amazing outfit made for me by ‘bdazzled designs’ to finally say goodbye. Wrapping up three years of work, fun, trouble and growth; what a day!!

I must say, quite a lot happened those three years; from the necessary to the unnecessary drama. In all, I’m proud to say I did not leave the same way I came. Actually if anyone did, that would be a deliverance matter. Here are seven major lessons I learnt from the experience.

1. Originality: No one can be you better than you. It’s sounds cliche, yes, but it’s true. Tall, short, quiet, loud, own it and use it to help people. I had a teacher who always told me that I was very calm for a woman and I’ll make a good wife. At some point, I started to wonder if that was supposed to be a compliment. Truth is I’m not made to be a ‘gra gra‘ woman and I’m proud of it. Every quality you own definitely has flaws, but that’s for you to refine not change. If you must be sorry for anything, absolutely not for being yourself.

2. You get the most important lessons from the seemingly worst of people: One thing my mum always told me was, “Take the content and leave the container.” It was really difficult because I had to deal with an annoying set of staff for THREE WHOLE YEARS!! Funny thing is that *some* actually said a lot of useful things and tasked us in so many ways, though the approach was simply annoying. We just had to brace ourselves because we knew it wouldn’t last forever. Things we saw as unnecessary are now a part of us, like cleaning up after yourself, proper way to walk into a meeting area and so on. After surviving in such a place, I doubt there’s any place I can’t survive or person I can’t deal with. When I see some lecturers doing like their heads can touch, I can only laugh because they do not know I’ve seen worse (literally)😂.

3. No need to cage yourself,you only experience high school once: I must say this one was really difficult for me because I’m a very uptight person. I’d rather just sit in my corner with minime and happy hour, watching all the drama play go on. Let me just say, that it’s terrible to do that every single time. Make out time to play, jump around, embarrass yourself. After all, they cannot shame the shameless. If not, what will we tell the people after us? That we were always reading our books? Which nonsense read that transcript wasn’t 100% all through 😂😂? My people, that’s how I didn’t realize till the end was really close. It was a short time but I’m glad I actually let myself free. The truth is that all those thoughts that come is just the mind playing games as usual. Don’t give in to self-caging for no reason.

4. Boredom brings out an unexpected side: Yes, I say this because we tend to do things we never thought we could when we’re bored. For me, it was my reading habit. The only thing I could put effort to read were my school books. Novels seemed like so much stress. It’d take me ages to finish a book, that’s if I even start. (Brief confession: I’ve been trying to read purple hibiscus for almost a decade now and I haven’t finished chapter 1😔. That‘s a task I must complete this month). NECO period came and I definitely wasn’t stressing for that the way I did for WASSCE, so there was nothing to do apparently. I decided to pick up a recommended novel: ‘A Bridge to Haven’ by Francine Rivers and I finished it in two weeks 🥳. Huge accomplishment!! I was so motivated to read more and in two months, I was done with about 4-5 books (I don’t remember the exact number). Now, it’s not so hard to read anymore and the course I’m studying doesn’t even need to tell my that I can’t be stale in knowledge😂.

5. School is not just for academics but every aspect: Too bad not everyone understands this, so now you know. There’s a reason for extracurricular, though the one in my school was terrible😂 except it was handled by student affairs. I must say I learnt a lot of fashion DIYs mostly from trad Sunday preparations. It’s not every time there is energy to bring properly sewn outfits so we just made to with what we had and everything turned out nice. Talents, etiquette, life skills, name it. Make an effort to improve.

6. Love: If I didn’t get any other thing from wonder woman, I learnt that love makes the world go round. For someone who isn’t a ‘people person’ I had to step up. I got to accept and tolerate people more and find things I actually like doing. Honestly, I couldn’t even mention three hobbies without thinking hard but I’m glad I got that figured out to an extent. Generally, I just learnt to put my heart into whatever I have to do, whether I want to or not. It’s good to leave good footprints anywhere you go. Above all, I learnt to love God more and I’m more than proud of that.

7. Be grateful for everything: Not everything that happens is pleasant but I got to understand that being grateful is the least I could do. Grateful that I was able to pull through and I learn from that experience. Grateful for the friends I met who became family. Grateful for the memories that won’t be forgotten easily. Grateful that I was alive and healthy to be part of the three year experience with my favourite people. Grateful that I’m even able to write this for you.

This is where it ends people. Please don’t let me do all the talking, drop a lesson you learnt from your highschool experience in the comments. I’d love to hear from you. To the young ones either in high school or about to enter, let these lesson be tips to guide you to having an awesome time. Finally, to my 2k19 family, happy grad-versary❤️.

Till next time,

Hephzibah