9 Things Nobody Tells You About Life After High School Graduation

1. You will be fine. Promise. We know, we know: there’s the stress of starting all over again in college as a baby freshman, the crushing pressure of college tuition and student loan debt, the terror of taking charge of your own life. Despite it all, you will be totally fine. Yes, there will be weepy calls to mom when you can’t figure out how to turn on the iron and when that cute boy you meet during Welcome Week ghosts you (he’s the worst, don’t even worry about it). Life after graduation can feel like the drop after the peak of a rollercoaster — terrifying, sure, but also exhilarating.

2. Some friends will drift away. Even if it sounds unimaginable right now, your entire prom limo will not get together every summer to rent a house on the beach and reminisce about the good old times for the rest of your lives. Most people stay in touch with a handful of their very best friends from high school and that’s it. If that thought makes you sad, don’t worry: the people who are really worth keeping around in your life will always be there for you.

3. One friend will completely reinvent herself. You’ll see her one day and it’ll be like, huh? Are you really the same girl I’ve known since kindergarten?

4. Your life will basically become a Taylor Swift song. Happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time might be a line straight out of “22,” but it applies just as much to the period right after graduating high school. It’s normal to feel on top of the world and like you’ve figured it all out one day, and to feel like you’re hurtling toward adulthood way too fast the next. It’s a lot to process all at once. It’s OK to cut yourself some slack!

5. You and your high school boyfriend/girlfriend might break up, even if you swore you’d last forever. Not every pair of high school sweethearts ends up together in the long run, and that’s OK. Breaking up can feel like your heart is going through an FBI-grade paper shredder, but eventually, you’ll come out on the other side single, happy, and more mature.

6. You don’t grow up all at once. Graduation is a HUGE milestone, but it’s not like you flip your tassel from right to left and suddenly feel worldly and wise. You’re still gonna feel like a lost little kid sometimes, especially when it comes time to file taxes for that summer job or make a big decision about your college major. The secret is knowing that every single other person your age feels exactly the same way.

7. You become more fearless. Now that you have a diploma under your belt, the product of years of hard work and dedication, you know you can take on any challenge and complete it with gusto. You got this, girl. Nothing is tougher to accomplish than passing junior year chem, and you did that just fine.

8. It’s finally socially acceptable to friend-request your favorite teacher on Facebook. *adds* … *stalks*

9. Friendships will require more effort than they did before. In high school, you knew without fail that you’d bump into your best friend by your locker or in Spanish class every single day. But once you graduate, those friendships take a lot more work to maintain. If you’re lucky enough to wind up attending the same college after graduation, you’ll still need to coordinate weekend plans and trek across campus to each other’s dorms. If you’re heading in separate directions, be prepared for your friendship to involve more FaceTime than face time. Tons of Snapchats, visits to each other’s campuses, handmade care packages just because you love each other are the key to keeping the friendship alive. Yeah, that’s a lot of work, but if you want to hold onto each other, it’s totally worth it.