15 reflections or lessons learned during the first semester of senior year:

1. Don’t neglect the parentals. If you’re a younger sibling like me, this might resonate with you. Lately, my parents have been encouraging me to spend more time at home: “In a year, you’ll be gone.” Thankfully– my parent shave a dog to mitigate the effects of being a complete empty nester, but I’ve been trying to enjoy spending time with them asmuch as possible. Most recently, I helped my Dad plan a surprise 50th birthday party at Pinot’s palette. It was adorable.

   

2. “Today will be a good day.” “Today WILL be a good day.” “TODAY will be a good day.”
3. I’m not very familiar with the concept of manifesting, but I’m pretty sure this is a manifest?  I’ve been saying it more often in the mornings, and I’m going to continue until it actually works. 
4. Don’t procrastinate.
5. Take advantage of school lunches. After I began taking advantage of the free customizable nachos, I’ve made it my mission to destigmatize school lunches. Although the pizza sits at the bottom of my stomach for God knows how long, I really can’t complain about the curly fries, watermelon flavored craisins, and tater tots– because they’re free!
6. Be clean. I’m not only talking about showers and washing your hands. I’ve learned that having a clean room makes me 10x happier. And, even better, EAT clean. This is something I’ve struggled with– eating improper meals (or none at all). But don’t worry, I’ll get it together by college. 
7. Sleep. It’s been drilled into all of our heads for so long and alas, I have finally begun trading study and relaxing time for sleep. Sufficient sleep has not only been vital to my school performance, but my mood as well. 
8. Reuse college essays. I’m not going to lie, I spent days writing four essays for UT Austin. When I found out their out-of-state acceptance rate was less than <10%, even lower for the program I wanted, I was initially pretty upset. However, I ended up reusing variations of those four essays for some of my other colleges. 
9. Control your workload, but don’t let it control you. This balance is something I’ve struggled with for so long– and I’m sure many people can say the same. Although I’m still working on it, I’ve realized that there should be a balance between completing assignments or studying for tests, and stressing about it too much. 
10. Always get sixth period lunch.
11. Don’t wait for people to reach out to you. This is more of a regret than anything, but I wish I’d pushed aside my introverted tendencies and reached out to people around me earlier. Throughout all four of my high school years, I’ve fallen into the habit of not talking to people unless they talked to me first, which has prevented me from making some of my now close friends friends earlier (*** where were you freshman year??). So for college, I’m going to actively meet new people, socialize with members of my group project, and most importantly, develop relationships with my professors. 
12. Don’t sleep on the ranch. This is somewhat related to #3, but take advantage of the ranch. It may not be as flavorful as hidden valley, but, after consistently bringing salads and baby carrots to lunch, they’re a wonderful, (and free!) in addition to any lunch. 
13. Be nice to underclassmen. I was surprised, to say the least, to find that I was grouped with two sophomores for an ongoing project in one of my classes. However, I’ve grown to love the two underclassmen and my perspective has shifted! 
14. Don’t get a boyfriend.
15. Take time for yourself. Here are a few of my favorite times to reflect: as I do laundry, during long winter walks, and as I sip tea in silence.