Finding out that your entire world is about to change is the most soul-crushing experience any could ever face. It’s the murky time when you have no control over anything in your life, and simple things like misplacing your favorite stuffed animal feel like the end of the world. It’s in these moments when you find out that you are about to change and become the one at the bottom of the food chain, the bottom of the totem pole. Becoming the new kid is when…
You find out that you are leaving behind everything that you’ve known your whole life.
You experience the tearful, clinging hugs with your best friends who have helped you through so many tough times. You know that this is one thing that they can’t be by your side for. You promise to stay in touch, but you know that life is going to start getting in the way.
You take a look at your new school with equal parts optimism and dread. You have a chance to reinvent yourself and be who you’ve always wanted to. You make a plan for eating lunch the first day of school – use it as an excuse to get well acquainted with your guidance counselor or read a book. You actually end up circling the building to make it look like you have somewhere to be instead of sitting alone. When that gets old, you lock yourself in the bathroom and wait for the lunch period to be over.
Eventually, you start talking to people in your classes. Someone who sits next to you or someone who you have to work on a project with. All of a sudden, they ask you to hang out. Then you two hang out again. They introduce you to their friends and you all hang out together. You finally have a place to sit at lunch, you have plans for the weekend, and you have new friends to tell your old friends about. You also tell your old friends about your new friends. You make all of these new memories in a new place. You fall in love and get your heartbroken and have a whole new team of people to support you during this. You reach new ages with new problems and realize why you can’t grow with the exact same people through every phase of life. You enjoy the friends you have and where you are now.
And before you know it, you will have to do it all over again.
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