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This I Have Learned

I woke up this morning with a mild fever, sore eyes, and a shoulder that felt like mashed meat. Yesterday, I received my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, a vaccine that has represented this senior year. Two years ago, I never could have imagined ending my high school experience in the middle of a pandemic, but as we've all learned, expectations are mere guesses about the future, and unexpected events can wipe out decades worth of expectations.

I think these changing expectations (read: I was overconfident about the future heading into high school) have marked my high school "journey," coming in with ideas and ideals that have been warped and morphed. Classes like English have changed the way I view literature; literature is not only a way for us to learn about characters and plots but also a way for us to learn about ourselves, the world, and the universe as a whole. At the risk of sounding cliché, everything we learn and everything that exists is interconnected — separating these ideas might be convenient, but it's ultimately a step and not a solution. 

Entering high school, I was decidedly set on pursuing medicine. I'm not not interested in healthcare and biology, but I've learned that my interests span farther and wider than this. I entered high school with an exact goal, but left high school with more uncertainty than ever, which perhaps is my mind reflecting how it feels about this pandemic (and this world). Even though high school didn't provide guidance and the transformative journey of figuring out my future that was often advertised, I feel that it has laid the groundwork for the long journey that will occur sometime soon (fingers crossed). I've learned to deal with uncertainty, to be flexible, to accept failure, to be okay with forging my own path and to be okay with following the most common path. 

I'm sad to be physically leaving behind my hometown, my friends, my school, and my childhood, but I'll always carry with me the lessons I've learned and the truths I've discovered.


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