Senior Moments Column: Filling the Pages of Life

Photo by Maxime Horlaville

If I would have guessed how this year was going to play out, I would have most likely come up with a million possibilities and hopes for what could have happened. Never in a million years, though, would I have been able to come close to imagining all of the things I’ve experienced and learned. The funny thing about life is that hopes and dreams are meant to be guidelines, and it’s our job to fill in the content. This year has exceeded any expectations I have ever had.

Starting out last summer, I began the start of a new school year with the opportunity to write about my experiences for the year. The idea of getting to share my experiences with others really excited me at first, but after getting through the first few articles, I learned something that made the entire experience so much more special.

By having to focus and really tune in with my experiences throughout the year, I was able to reflect on what I learned from each experience. Whether it was having to realize I needed to slow down and enjoy my last year of high school because it was the end of an era in my life, or the importance of appreciating where I am from, I learned to examine my life through a lens and create a bigger picture of my life and what it means to truly live life to the fullest.

It’s really interesting to look back on it now that I have gone through this entire year and have a whole new future ahead of me once again. Earlier in the year, I said it was the beginning of the end, and now that the end has finally come for one chapter, I am now having a whole new mindset for the next few years of my life. I will be beginning a new lifestyle with its own sets of challenges and experiences.

The thought of change feels eerily similar to the beginning of this past year, which is something I think is so important to understand. We as people fear change so much, but if we were to look at our life from an outside perspective, we would be able to see that these phases of change occur in a repeated cycle, just with different circumstances. Just like this past year, this upcoming year is going to be full of change and new experiences. While one was bittersweet and the other will be more hopeful, in the end, they both have sparked this openness in my life for me to begin accepting life is a bumpy road I need to learn to enjoy, because change never ends.

At the end of the day, this past year has meant so much to me and has made this summer have so much more meaning. No matter how bittersweet the end of this era of my life is, because I have experienced these things, I have so much more to look forward to in my future. Just like the life cycle creates new life from death, the end of one experience allows the birth of a new beginning to transform. While this article ends one journey, I am so thankful it has led to the wonderful start of a new journey — studying art in college and gaining the opportunity to form new friendships. This new start has endless possibilities, and I am so excited to begin.

Lilly Johnson is a recent graduate of Charleston High School in Charleston, Mo. She has lived in Southeast Missouri most of her life and loves to travel with her youth group, jam to musicals and BTS, and paint during the late hours of the night.