PDA.

Public Displays of Affection. Let us go over what this is first, the phrase is self-explanatory for the most part, but one's tolerance of it varies immensely. In high school, depending on the administration and how well they enforce the policy your school has, you might see some of these things as you walk through the hall: hand holding, hugging, kissing, or fully blown out french lip smacking. Now I cannot speak on your behalf, you may be one to side with those whom are intolerant completely to the actions, I, on the other hand am not completely repulsed by the sight of it... in moderation. As someone who has been in a long-lasting relationship before, I understand the hand holding, the hugs and when he wraps his arm around her. It is cute, harmless, and it makes me happy knowing that they make each other happy. When it comes to the lip smacking, that where I see where the repulsion comes from. Little kisses are okay, they might rub me a bit the wrong way, but if you really think about it, you almost just shared a private moment with two people, and I think that is a wonderful thing to experience. Anything past that is too much for me. Learn to control yourself people. My whole philosophy is that if you would not do it in front of your parents then you should not be doing it at all. That may sound cliché, but I am a firm believer of respecting your parents and knowing that they are only want to maintain your "image" and would not let you do something you will regret. (Image is more of a relative term and is something I will elaborate on at a later date) On to the dissenting opinion, I can understand where some may see PDA as something they may not think they are capable of, but I think that may be just a confidence thing. Do not get me wrong, I can see where people can go too far, but those who think that there should absolutely no PDA at all, what is it really doing to affect you? That is something else I will talk about at a later date, Confidence. But as you experience high school, whether you are offended by PDA or not, just walk by and just start laughing either way.
JSL

Consequences.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. One of Newton's laws is relevent in many instances, including the actions and decisions you make in high school. Every high school student needs to understand that the biggest critiques in your life will best the ones whom you hold most dear. Your closest friends will be the ones to make you feel the most terrible about actions that you make. The truth is you will rarely have even half of the amount of close friends you had as freshmen, when you graduate four years later. People change all to quickly, and most of it will go unnoticed until it is too late. The best route to take is the one of not looking too much sleep over anything. It is still good to have an awareness of what you look like in others' eyes, but take their opinions lightly. Adults on the other hand, you should always aim to please. Being right is not always a good enough reason to argue or give any sass. They are the ones with connections that can help get you out of high school to do bigger and better things, so sucking up is always acceptable to an extent. Now after you have made a decision or done an action that you start to regret, it has only started. Once you feel the guilt, and all the eyes on you in the hall, it is a hard feeling to shake. Remember that what ever you did, has happened and is in the past, there is nothing that can be done and your best bet is to move on. Rumors die down and your moment of glory will not last as long as you think it will. People forget, not everyone, but most. The people who do not forget and bring it up just to remind you about the situation, are the worst kind of people. They are typically the ones who are jealous of you and just want to see you down for once, but do not let those irrelevant people get in the way of your happiness. People make mistakes and it is okay. Stay written as an open book, let the terrible teenagers flip through your pages instead of allowing them to write their own biography of you. When people start to do that, they often do not do their research and add too many plot twists.
JSL

Pressure.

Peer pressure is one of the worst things high school kids have to deal with, along with many others, but those are to be discussed at a later date. Peer pressure shows itself in two main forms. There is indirect, where you just want to do what everyone else is doing, and direct, where someone tells you what they think you should be doing. Both, in my opinion, are very terrible to have to deal with. Going along with my last post, I believe that high school dances are a prime place for peer pressure to occur. Yes drinking and smoking are one thing to be pressured about, but I believe if people know where you stand on things like that and you are with the right crowd, that will not be as big of an issue. The pressure that is the most frustrating is the actual dancing itself in my opinion, based on personal experience. Now, I apologize to kids everywhere for revealing this information to potential adults and parents reading this, but it has to be said. Some of the dancing or "grinding" at dances can be just plain disgusting. I do believe that there is a this as tasteful grinding, where you are not so engrossed with your partner that you can have a good time with the people around you, but some couples look like they need a bedroom. Freshmen, bless their souls, get thrown into the mix all too often, and they are the ones whom peer pressure most impacts. They are the ones who make different decisions when they are in that setting that they may regret later. The best advice that I could give anyone, not just freshmen, is to make the decision before you get tot the dance, and if you do decide to grind, only dance with your date, it will work out better for everyone in the end. Peer pressure to dance with someone happens, so be prepared for it. As I said earlier, I do believe in tasteful grinding, but just keep in mind that id you do grind or do not at all, you can still have a spectacular time.
If all else fails, just start laughing.
JSL

School Dances.

The Before.
The best and worst nightmares of high school kids across the nation. Much like the terrifying team-picking at recess in elementary, high school dances cause the nerves and self doubt to arise in many teens. Thanks to the vast array of hormones being produced within our bodies, dances have the power to make or break our whole high school experience. However, when executed correctly, dances are able to stand out as the some of the best memories made in high school.
The couples are the ones who cause the most self-inflicted stress about ourselves. Questions such as, "Why am I not good enough?" "Is it because I don't look like her." emerge out of thin air. Or for others, the more fortunate, yet not better off stress related, worry about the wrong person asking them. "Does he think I like him?" "Will others think so?" "Oh no, I wanted someone else to ask but I can't say no." Coming from a female perspective, I believe that guys, in theory, are less stressed when asking the girl to the dance. There seem to be next to no circumstances where the answer is no. The again, as a sometimes over confident person, this may be inaccurate. Once the extravagant plan has been made on how you ask someone to a dance, which gets to be more and more elaborate every year, (mainly for social media purposes) the stress on attire emerges. If you are close with the individual you are going with, it would be easier for them. On the other hand, telling someone what you want them to wear is always difficult to word without coming across bossy. No matter the dance, Homecoming, WPA, Saddie Hawkins, Prom, the female typically determines the color and what clothing the male wears. Usually the female has her dress before she even gets asked, because the guys seem to wait longer and longer until they pop the question, and has already envisioned what she wants him to wear. This is where the conversation sometimes seems to be walking a thin line because, dress clothes are not cheap. The dance itself is a whole other cause to fret. Groups of friends get mixed up due to dates and different friends, and dinner reservations always need to be made before anyone knows who they are going with. The day of the dance you can find every spa in town full of girls in line to compete for the "prettiest" on of the night. In my opinion though "prettiest"is a relative term and you should be the best in your date's eyes regardless. The day continues and pictures start popping up on all instagram, snapchat, twitter, everywhere. Cute couple pictures mixed with the awkward "I barely even know this person I am still not sure why they asked me but I feel obligated to post a picture because we took them and I look really good" pictures which everyone has to like. Everything is seems to be a competition, but what in high school isn't?
JSL