A guide to surviving high school

Alma matters:These are the years you’re most awkward, looking for your place in the world, and generally making a fool of yourself. But here’s the thing: It’s okay.

MANILA, Philippines - I’m probably not the first person to say this, but I have a love-hate relationship with my time in high school. While it was there that I met some of the friends I know I have for life (unless our fight over Prince Harry’s heart escalates to nuclear levels), I highly suspect that it has, on occasion, scarred me irreparably.

Looking back at these crucial formative years honestly makes me want to go back in time and give the 16-year-old me a few key tips that might save me from complete and utter shame. But because I’ve no intention of ruining the space-time continuum—or worse, my hair—I’d like to impart said nuggets of wisdom to anyone who cares to know the secrets of surviving secondary education.

Say yes.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said, do one thing every day that scares you. This may have meant committing social suicide on my part, but joining the varsity debate team or auditioning for a school musical showed me that I had a lot more confidence than I thought I did. It also gave me a pretty good idea of how high my shame threshold is, but that’s for another story.

Invest in your mind.

I’m gonna sound like a real pill right now, but I and almost everyone I know wish we put in a lot more time into studying when they were in high school. Don’t trade your precious review time for a few hours in front of the computer. Trust me, it’ll be hard to charm potential colleges with a mediocre transcript, no matter how cute you claim to be.

The classroom isn’t your only avenue of learning.

In fact, open yourself up to the idea that the world is your school. Find something that challenges you. I hated Home Economics with a passion, but because I liked clothes and barely had money to buy them, I looked up tutorials on YouTube and gave sewing a try. As great as your teachers are, they can’t show you everything, so it’s up to you to pick up where they left off.

Sure, you only live once, but that doesn’t mean doing things you’ll regret.

Perhaps it’s that awful kid-to-adult transition, but high school seems to be that time when everyone wants to prove something. While I’m all for proclaiming just how much of a boss you really are, I’ve come to realize that impulsive decisions are usually the ones you ended up paying for in the long haul. Making mistakes is perfectly normal, of course, but knowing that you are and doing it anyway makes you an ideal Hunger Games tribute. Blindfolded.

The little things you obsess over? No one actually cares, neither will you.

I read this book once that told me not to sweat the small stuff, and it’s totally right (I still do it, though). Failing a Biology quiz may seem like the end of the world right now, but if you ask yourself, “In five years, will this matter?” and you answer no, then take a breather and do better next time. Do well to find a balance between being content with messing up and not losing sight of the bigger picture.

You’re probably awkward, but don’t worry. You’ll grow out of it soon.

Watching Pretty Little Liars makes me feel like teenagers don’t have awkward phases (just creepy stalker friends), but I’m not easily fooled. High school is the breeding ground for can-the-floor-eat-me-up moments, and you are no exception. Just take comfort in the fact that everyone isn’t, too. The older you get, the more you get to know yourself and the less likely you will look like a total dork. Who knows, you might even end up getting a good story out of it.

Don’t be too busy planning your life that you forget to live it.

When I was younger, I was told that people with direction go far because they never get lost. I admit that I may have taken that a notch too high when I turned my future into a minor obsession, completely forgetting that I had a perfectly good present life to enjoy first. Contrary to what you may think, grades aren’t everything and won’t be able keep you company on a Saturday night. Do something silly once in a while. Go to a soirée and meet new people. It’s a little childish and stupid, but as Ferris Bueller famously said, so is high school.

If you mess up high school, you still have college to start all over.

I blame teen rom-coms for placing such a high premium on high school being the best of one’s years. Graduating from high school without becoming prom royalty or the most attractive person in your class isn’t the end of the world. Going off to college where you’ll make new friends and experience new things is the perfect opportunity to turn things around. You’ll learn that the great thing about life is that you don’t just get three chances then game over, but like an exhausting session of NBA 2K12, you should never forget to have fun with it.

The Cliff Notes guide to high school TV

Any transition to puberty needs that zeitgeist-defining show to, well, help define one’s adolescent life. It becomes our pop culture filter, giving away songs we can queue on our playlists, references we can stow for the next conversation, and lines that we can upload on Tumblr. We love it because it resonates with us to a certain degree. But do they always have plots or characters that we can necessarily relate to? Sometimes. Here’s a rundown of high school shows according to accuracy—because while we like the fantasy, we also appreciate the real life. At least that’s what the shows say.