{"id":10308,"date":"2020-06-18T16:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T20:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/?p=10308"},"modified":"2020-06-18T16:06:55","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T20:06:55","slug":"the-view-from-here-reflecting-on-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briwebapp.net\/cfgxfm\/blogs\/afternoons\/2020\/06\/the-view-from-here-reflecting-on-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"The View From Here – Reflecting On The Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

I shared my high school grad picture on our Facebook page today.\u00a0 It’s #throwbackThursday<\/em>, we’re in the thick of graduation season. Although grad looks so different for the class of 2020 this year.<\/p>\n

No ceremony.\u00a0 No big celebration.\u00a0 No fancy dress.\u00a0 No chance to say goodbye.\u00a0 We’ve been sharing grad pics on our online graduate yearbook page<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 A way to acknowledge the achievements of everyone who has worked so hard to get that diploma – whether it’s grade 8, high school, college or university.\u00a0 It’s all worth celebrating.<\/p>\n

It made me look back on my own<\/em> pictures.<\/p>\n

Funny how a picture can take you back to a moment in time and all the feelings that went with it.\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

I consider THIS my grade 8 grad pic.\u00a0 I know.\u00a0 No gowns.\u00a0 No fancy setting.\u00a0 Just a girl surrounded by some pretty cool people. Some were by BFF’s. Some just wanted to be in the picture.\u00a0 This was my “Breakfast Club”.\u00a0 We were such a cast of characters.\u00a0 Not a care in the world.<\/p>\n

Grade 8 grad for me was a bit of a bust.\u00a0 Our family had just moved from big city to small town.\u00a0 As the new kid, that grade 8 grad was awkward and uncomfortable.\u00a0 I did NOT belong or fit in.<\/p>\n

So I consider THIS my grade 8 grad pic.\u00a0 This group of people came together on my last day of grade 8 at Dolphin Senior Public School to say goodbye.\u00a0\u00a0I’m the girl with the paint splat shirt on the ground. Flaps on my jeans.\u00a0 What was that about?\u00a0 Such a dork.<\/p>\n

When you spend over eight years together, sharing class and recess – you feel a bond with those kids.\u00a0 A connection.\u00a0 You grow up together.\u00a0 You go from running away from boys to chasing them in hopes they chase you back. You think all the big changes that come your way (like moving away from your friends) are the end of the world and that you’ll never recover or make it through. You are growing up but don’t know who you really are yet.\u00a0 You’re still trying to figure it out. All I knew was I loved Duran Duran and sour keys, and the thought of moving to a whole other place was going to ruin my life FOREVER.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

High school. Oh boy.\u00a0 That’s a learning curve isn’t it?\u00a0 Such a different environment from what you knew in elementary school.\u00a0 New faces.\u00a0 New classes.<\/p>\n

A new schedule.\u00a0 Teenage years are awkward enough.\u00a0 You’re just trying to make it to the next class, next day, next semester and remember that stupid locker combination – and the battle\u00a0seems all uphill.<\/p>\n

It’s a popularity contest that I never belonged in.\u00a0 Always a misfit.\u00a0 Didn’t really belong anywhere in particular.\u00a0 Grade nine I was a loner.\u00a0 I kept to myself.\u00a0 Ate lunch in the library.\u00a0 Avoided anything social.<\/p>\n

By grade twelve, I had my friends, I had had my first boyfriend and was ready to figure out the rest of my life.\u00a0 \u00a0College applications sent out in the hopes of teaching, business or radio.\u00a0 The shy kid.\u00a0 Picking radio.\u00a0 Seemed like a joke.\u00a0 Never underestimate yourself.\u00a0 You are so much stronger than you think.\u00a0 We tend to think of high school as this crazy race.\u00a0 Trying to fit in.\u00a0 Get people to like us.\u00a0 I think I grew the most as a person in those years.\u00a0 Stay true to who you are and you will never be disappointed.\u00a0 Don’t feel pressured to change to get a like or be included.\u00a0 High school seems like forever but goes by in the blink of an eye.\u00a0 “Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”\u00a0 It is tough.\u00a0 But you WILL get through it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lambton College was next.\u00a0 A two year Radio, Television and Journalism program.\u00a0 RTJ.\u00a0 A lot of life changes packed into two years.\u00a0 Ever feel like sometimes life is leading you in a direction that is bigger than you?\u00a0 I still, to this day, have no idea why I would pick radio.\u00a0 I passed out in front of my class giving a speech.\u00a0 I was the shyest kid in school every single year.<\/p>\n

How could THAT girl ever work in RADIO?\u00a0 How could we really be expected to have life figured out and a career figured out before even being allowed to drink?\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n

The first year of college, the summer between semesters, my family suffered a huge loss.\u00a0 My mom, brother and sister were killed in a car accident. My world was turned upside down.<\/p>\n

Months later I was back in school.\u00a0 Finishing what I started.\u00a0 On auto pilot. With one of the worst examples of permed hair too (smile).<\/p>\n

Not sure what my obsession with permed hair was.\u00a0 Thankfully I’ve outgrown that.<\/p>\n

Graduation time is an important moment in time for everyone.\u00a0 I don’t have words of wisdom to pass on.\u00a0 But I know that this is a moment in your life that you won’t forget.\u00a0 You will remember your friends, your class, your teacher.\u00a0 They will forever be a part of your story, your journey, that will lead you down the path you are meant to be on whether you know it or not.<\/p>\n

I had so many struggles in school.<\/p>\n

Bullies are everywhere, sadly enough.\u00a0 I dealt with all of it.\u00a0 Grade nine for me was the WORST.\u00a0 I didn’t think it was ever going to end.\u00a0 I didn’t think the girls on the bus would ever stop picking at me or on me.\u00a0 Making fun of my name, my hair – whatever.<\/p>\n

Don’t let the struggles and challenges change you.<\/p>\n

Don’t change to fit in or be liked.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry if you don’t fit in.\u00a0 I never did.<\/p>\n

Find someone who gets you and understands you and share life with them.\u00a0 My group were definitely a bunch of misfits and we couldn’t have been happier.<\/p>\n

I still call myself a misfit today.\u00a0 I love the term.\u00a0 Never be afraid to be yourself and stay true to yourself.\u00a0 Even if you’re a dork like me.<\/p>\n

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