You’re done with high school. High school was a bubble with people around the same age and area having to navigate the same structure and opportunities just to graduate. The world feels WIDER after high school.
For the first time, you’re calling the shots on your life without needing permission from anyone. You get to choose where you want to go, how you want to live, and what kind of person you want to become.
There’s freedom in that. There’s also pressure.
At first, it’s fun. No more hall passes, no more rigid schedules, and no more asking permission to do something.
Eventually, you see that you wanted more than what you have right now. You do this by asking yourself the big questions like:
- What are you willing to work for?
- Who do you keep around?
- What do you value?
There’s not a clear roadmap of how you’re supposed to carry yourself after high school. That’s why in this post, we’re going to dive into some topics that you may not hear until after high school.
You’re Going to Fail at Things — Often
Even after high school, you will make mistakes and will get rejected. It’s part of growing up.
While your mistakes and rejections will never be exactly the same for everyone, experiencing mistakes and rejections is normal for everyone. After experiencing failure, what matters most is how you respond to it.
If you want to learn from your failure, take note of where things may have gone wrong. Decide and plan how you’re going to make things better.
If you want to stay the same and never grow, don’t do anything better and either:
- Keep going with how things are going now.
OR - Just stop trying.
Failing is part of life, you decide how you want to move forward.
You’re Responsible For Most Of Your Outcomes
As a kid, you were asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” While the answer may not have remained the same, that question stayed the same all the way up to now. It’s just worded a little differently.
Some knew what they wanted to be while others had to experience different things to get an idea of what they wanted to do.
Once you picked what you wanted to be and were serious about becoming that person, you started to think about what that life would have.
Pros & Cons in Becoming the Person You Want To Be.
- If you chose to become a doctor, you’ll be making significant money in comparison to the general population.
- However, you may be working a lot of hours. Also, you sacrifice a season of your life just to study in university and medical school.
- If you choose to become an athlete, you’ll be improving your health by eating right and exercising consistently.
- However, you run the risk of getting an injury, depending on the sport. You may develop chronic conditions such as fatigue or illness from OVER training.
- If you choose to become a sociable person, you’ll be more approachable and more likely to have positive experiences in interacting with others.
- However, you may not get much needed time to yourself often. You may experience conflicts with differing personalities and opinions in a social setting.
- If you choose to become a kind person, you’ll have a deeper level of empathy and compassion.
- However, depending on if you’re nice as well, you run the risk of being taken advantage of or viewed as weak by people who see you as vulnerable.
To become that person you want to be, you must understand what you’re willing to sacrifice to become that person and if you’re okay with the consequences of that decision. If you decide it’s worth it, you then must think how you’re going to get there. Need extra help in deciding what you want? Click here.
If you think college or university is for you and need help in coming up with a routine that makes sense for you, click here.
If you don’t do the necessary steps to get to where you want to be, then you are responsible for not reaching your goal.
Learn To Be Responsibly Broke
Not many people land a job, right after high school, that makes enough money to fully support themselves.
While it’s common to see high school students and college students work part-time jobs while going to school, high school students typically are not financially obligated to purchase all their food, car payments, basic school supplies, groceries for the entire household, insurance, etc.
Now that you are done with high school, you are responsible to financially take care of yourself. The obvious answer to financially taking care of yourself is to have income is to work a job and/or apply for scholarships if you’re going to college or university. Whatever income you have, you want to stretch out your money for as long as possible.
When you have the money in your hands, you must use it as a financially broke person and not as a poor person.
The Difference of Being “Poor” vs. “Broke”
There is a difference between being “broke” and being “poor.” Poor is when you don’t have enough money to pay for your needs. Broke is when you have enough money to pay for your needs, but not enough money to pay for your wants.
Make A Budget
What you should, whether during or after high school, you should make a budget to understand how much money you consistently make and what bills are due consistently. This is just to give you an idea of where your money is going.
Many people understand that most young people are broke, so many businesses have discounts for young people. The majority of these discounts are usually attributed to college students, but there are a few that specifically have discounts for high school students. So take advantage of it.
Create An Emergency Fund
If you have money left over, you should put it away into a savings account. You want to build the habit of saving money. Your first savings account goal should be to have an emergency fund, which has at least the cost of 6 months of your living expenses.
You’re Going To Outgrow Some People
One of the hardest unspoken parts about growing up, especially after high school, is realizing that you’re going to outgrow some people that you love. It doesn’t always happen because something dramatic happened or a major falling out. Sometimes, it happens little by little. Until one day, you wake up and realize that the close, loving connection you had just feels distant or strained.
This part can be uncomfortable or just painful to accept. We often assume that all of our close loved ones will walk with us through every season of our lives.
For a time, that may have been true. Though as you evolve, your interests, goals, values, and mindset begin to change. When that happens, not everyone will be willing to change along with you.
There was once a reason and a season where that connection mattered deeply. And it did matter. Just because it didn’t last forever doesn’t mean it wasn’t real. Outgrowing people is about giving the needed space for them and yourself to grow, not becoming better than anyone else.
It may feel bittersweet, but you’ll attract new people who like the better version of you. You’re going to grow and attract others who align with your energy and values. Just give it time.
No One Cares About Your GPA After High School (Other Than Universities)
Many places where you apply for work don’t care about your GPA, unless you’re doing a work-study program in a college or university.
The only time that your GPA would have been an issue is while attending high school, applying for scholarships, applying for community college, and applying for certain programs in universities.
Really, college and university are checking your GPA to see what scholarships and grants you’re eligible for. They’re also checking if you passed the necessary classes to attend their schools.
If you decide that you don’t want to attend college or university, then it’s time for you to either apply for a job, learn a trade, or create your own business.
If you’re applying for a job, many of the jobs just care what you can do and proving to them that you can do the work. Many want at least 1-2 years of experience, bare minimum. Although that sounds simple, it’s so hard!
You may have to resort to selling your time for cheap just so you can obtain work experience.
If that doesn’t sound good to you, your only other option is to work for yourself. Though, if you work for yourself, you are responsible for your skill set, the work you put out, managing your business expenses, and filing your taxes.
Your Appearance Matters – To A Degree
After high school, you finally get the freedom to wear whatever you want, wherever you want. You don’t have to look like a model every time you step outside, but you do need to be intentional in picking appropriate clothes for the situation you’re in.
Your freedom comes with the responsibility of understanding context. Just because you can wear something doesn’t mean you should.
For example you can wear a tank top and shorts to your college classes and to a courtroom. In college, you might end up freezing if the building is blasting air conditioning. In court, you may be stopped at the door and be insisted to change by your lawyer or judge.
Not all bad appearances lead to negative consequences, but dressing inappropriately can lead to misunderstandings and lack of credibility.
For example, if you look really young and work in a professional setting, find the balance between showing your style and picking professional clothing that follows the rules of the office.
Your appearance doesn’t define your worth, it just plays a role in how you’re received.
You Can Outwork and Outlearn People With More Talent
Intelligence was one of the most common praises you were given as a kid. Over time, it was whatever talent you had. During school, if given enough praise to feel confident within yourself, you assumed that your future success was solely based on how smart or talented you were.
Sadly, that’s not the full story.
Talent, whether it’s video editing or debating, is a part of you that makes you interesting. Though, using your talent only once in a while won’t help you be better within your talent. Consistency, effort, and the willingness to learn and apply will determine how powerful your talent can be.
If you’re not naturally talented in your desired field – that’s okay.
The truth is, hard work will give you skills. Discipline will sharpen those skills. And curiosity will help you keep learning and wanting to do more.
After high school, the playing field of opportunities becomes uneven. Nobody is going to grade your effort on finding a job or how many sacrifices you made just to not be homeless. It is not enough to show up every day and just do the bare minimum.
What IS enough is showing up every day and choosing to get better, even when no one is watching. You’re choosing to learn from your mistakes and improve steadily. This doesn’t mean you’re going to grind until you crash and burn.
You’re going to do better until it’s time to move onto bigger and greater things.
Most Jobs Are Found Through Connections
You’ll learn pretty quickly after high school that you have to go through hoops to get jobs and internships that you want. One of the best ways to dodge or ease yourself in going through those hoops is building connections.
Building connections is one of the fastest ways to know what kind of opportunities are out there and to go get them.
When thinking of building connections, many people think about attending networking events in suits and having business cards ready to be handed out. While it’s not wrong, building connections could also mean being personable and joining communities or asking questions to people who are in the position you want to be in.
It’s even best to stay connected with people who were also in the same position as you and see how they’re progressing.
In the back of your mind, you might be thinking that you don’t know anyone or don’t have anyone that you can reconnect with since after high school. If you believe that’s true, then you’ll have to look elsewhere.
We know that many job opportunities aren’t online in places like LinkedIn or Indeed. Some are found through word of mouth or recommended internally. So, what can you do to find the kind of people who are in places or opportunities you may want to be in?
Be in proximity of those opportunities.
That may be easier said than done, such as an entertainer dropping everything to go to the bigger cities and then be rocked by their new cost of living. Though it is true that if you want a faster way to achieve your goals like that.
If you’re not comfortable with going for a big change with big sacrifices, that’s fine. You don’t have to do it that big.
You can just start off with something unlikely, such as joining a gym that is in close proximity to a tech company if your goal is to get into tech. Just find some way to be in proximity with people or the connections that you want to be in.
If you already have that kind of connection, maintain it.
Your Peace Matters to You, No One Else
Once you’re 18 years-old, you become the only person truly responsible for protecting your peace. Sure, there will be people who may help you in protecting your peace. Though, they are not responsible for it in the long-run.
Part of growing and living is that you’ll be asked by various people and organizations for you to give them something you have. You experienced this to some degree during high school, such as:
- Being asked to share your notes
- Giving your time to watch someone’s kids
- Using your talent or skill to help someone
- Donating money to help buy a snack
In high school, it wasn’t always bad because you weren’t legally responsible for everything and have most likely asked things like this with your friends or with family. However, you were also most likely feeling the pressure to say “yes” to everything just to avoid missing out or disappointing loved ones.
Those kinds of questions may come up more often and have bigger stakes after high school.
People will ask you for your time, energy, attention, skill, and sometimes money. They will ask all kinds of things from you and won’t always care about what it is costing you. If you give it to them all the time, you will face some kind of regret and will be drained.
This is where boundaries come in.
Protecting your peace means recognizing and understanding what exhausts you and setting appropriate limits around it. You’re prioritizing rest without guilt. It means choosing spaces and relationships that let you feel safe and not on edge.
Remember, peace is having clarity and deciding to be absent from drama.
You don’t owe people unrestricted access to yourself. You owe yourself a life that feels good on the inside – even if everyone else doesn’t understand it.
Life after high school is about handling yourself, learning to ask better questions, and being able to move forward.
There will be hard times, but it’s only for a moment. You have the ability to grow and adapt from those moments. If you decide to grow, you’ll start to build a life that reflects who you are and not what people expected you to be.
Whatever path you choose after high school, let it be one that you walk with purpose – not pressure.
