Overcoming the High School Blues
By Robyn
If happiness has a measurement, then how does someone know if they’re happy? I remember being a junior in high school, hating everything and everybody that I came across. Girls I used to be best friends with in sixth grade until my junior year of high school totally flipped on me. I could never understand why they lied to my high school sweetheart and told him I was unfaithful. I could never understand why they thought it was funny when everyone was whispering in the halls that I had a black eye, due to the lies they spread about someone they called their “best friend.” I was clearly in a dark place mentally because I felt like everyone I knew had turned against me.
The following year I was in a different place in my life. I had “glowed up” and no one could make me feel like I had the year before. The “mean girls” still made comments when I walked past them, but after a while, the comments began to fade, and I began making new friends who encouraged me to be myself in different ways. After this experience, I spent hours conducting research and studying which paid off, as I was accepted into my first choice college, Ohio University.
Now let’s fast forward to 2019, as I have almost completed undergrad and I couldn't be prouder of the growth I have seen within myself. My two best friends moved away from high school before junior year, so they did not exactly understand the struggle I had to go through in my senior year. My best friends, “the twins,” had a slumber party and asked me to come. They disclosed that the “mean girls” would be there. But I didn’t see it as an issue, as it had been years since these events had occurred.
Preparing for the party made me feel anxious because I haven’t seen some of these girls since graduation and never planned to see them again. While driving to the party, I received a video from Snapchat from one of the “mean girls” asking when I would arrive at the party. They couldn’t wait to see me. I was so baffled, and thought this must’ve been a joke! When I pulled up to the party, I was even more surprised.
The girls who had done me wrong had seemed to forget and they acted as if we were best friends. It was the most uncomfortable thing I’ve experienced thus far, but in a good way. Although I was no longer friends with these ladies, they congratulated me and told me they were proud of me, which made me happy. It showed me in a way we all had grown, and I had to let go of the past. It felt so refreshing to be able to relax and have a good time with old friends.
While in high school, like many others, I suffered from depression and anxiety, and I use to feel so alone due to my struggles. When I got to college, I met a woman who was from the same city from me and we had a very similar past. Instantly we clicked, and became inseparable, people swore we knew each other since childhood. She was able to help me deal with my depression and would help me get out of the house to get me in a better mood. This was one of the ways I was successful in college and I have always been grateful for our friendship I do not know where I would be now had we never met.
Jazmyne and I created an organization called Ebony Minds, which educated the community about the issues that black women faced in the past and continue to face in the present. I never recognized my love for politics until Jazmyne and I began to look into new things, and we found something we both love. Together we spread knowledge and served the community in numerous ways. While doing all of this, we were able to join a sorority together and become a part of a sisterhood with many other women who were like us in different ways. They all taught me things about myself and about others. While with this group of women, my relationship with God grew and my life began to change in many aspects. The sisterhood I found in college even before joining a sorority was so impactful it changed not only my views but also my life.
