The high school experience in Argentina is not the same as in the USA. We don’t have prom or homecoming, but we do have our graduation trip or LFD (last first day). However, there is something that every senior in school has in common, and that is the end of an era.

In high school, everything is familiar: teachers, classrooms, our friends, the corridors, everything. It isn’t something we choose to do; it’s mandatory. And despite the fact that teens tend to get cranky about waking up early every day or about homework, why is it that when we are given the opportunity to choose what to do with our lives after graduation, we freak out? 

Personally, I’ve always felt that finishing high school was a big deal that meant having to design my own path, and this could get a little frustrating. We were raised in a society where we were always told what to do: go to kindergarten, go to primary school, then high school, and once you finish, you are on your own. You have so many options to choose from: you can go to college, you can work, you can travel, you can take a sabbatical year, you name it.

Given the vast amount of options to choose from, it may be frightening or stressful. Or at least that is how I felt these past few months, and I wanted to share what I'm going to do with everyone who reads this article.

I will be starting college next year, and I will study business administration. I would love to travel the world. Although I already chose what I’ll do, I don’t really know if it’s going to work out how I want it to. So, instead of focusing on my degree or if I’ll have any job interviews, I will focus on finding my real self or what my purpose in life is.

What I’m trying to say is, what if instead of finishing high school and defining who we are based on what we do, why don’t we just enjoy whatever it is that we are doing and try to find the real meaning of life and our real identity?