Things I would tell my high school self

1. Why are you so organized?

I just stumbled upon my form 3 diary/planner (Yep, apparently I was that chic. I think I started it after reading ‘New-York minute’). It has all these entries on what I was supposed to do on certain dates and then every completed activity has been checked with a red pen! You know what; I’m not explaining it right. It would be better if you saw it for yourselves so I'll put a few pics below. But at this point in time, I am personally appalled by the degree of neat-freakishness I had back then! But then again, my mother would be proud.

2. Think about what you’re about to say! I mean really think about it.

To this day, I am haunted by the memories of stupid stuff I can’t believe came out of my mouth.  When I remember them, I end up having a lot face-palm moments! Statements like (I apologize to the person I told this): I’d never wear pink! I’m a tomboy!.....What was I thinking! Urrgh! I'm not particularly fond of the colour today, but when I said that I was trying to fit into a particular cultural norm based on what I’d read in books and stuff. In short- I was trying to look cool....I think I was a bit pretentious even!

3. It’s never that serious.

I attended Pangani girls’ high school and it was a big school! At any one time there were about 1200 of us girls in the school. Do you know what that means? Competition! Too many candidates for a few available positions meant that there would have to auditions....for every single club in the school. I’m talking: Rangers, first aiders, journalism club, debate club, math club! Among so many others. Dude! Even the choir held auditions! And yes, me and a couple of friends whose names I shall refrain from mentioning went for auditions to almost all those clubs and were rejected...more than once for some of them. When you’re in form 1 and clubless it’s no big deal, you could say that you’re still testing the waters. By form 2 your time’s running out. In form 3 you are no longer eligible for what were probably the most elite clubs in the school. You start to lower your standards and consider settling for other less desired choices. There are 2 words to describe this phenomenon: Desperation and self-pity. Self-pity especially came into play when all your friends who already joined clubs earlier in their school life got to go for functions outside school while you were left living your mundane life. But relax, there’s no need to start a pity party for me coz I eventually joined EAMUN in form 3! Apparently all good things come to those who wait.

4. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

The draw-back to picking the brightest minds in the nation and putting them all in one school is that they all go there with humongous egos thinking that they’ll continue being A-students without lifting a finger. Boy, was my bubble burst! Big time. Form one and two weren’t that bad, I transitioned from being an excellent student to somewhere near Average. In form 3 I hit an all-time low when I started getting 30s in Swahili and Chemistry. My parents were freaking out, I was freaking out and no matter how hard I studied I couldn't seem to get my grades up! So this is what I’d tell myself: To never give up because all that effort somehow paid off and I passed my KCSE!

5. Never ever go boy-crazy!

I’d probably applause myself for this one. I knew girls who before any school function or challenge weekend where members of the male gender would be present, would specially wash and style their hair and put on layer upon layer of lip-gloss (Preferably the kind that had a bit of colour or glitter in it). They’d then wear their shortest and tightest skirts (Which were illegal by the way), newest looking shirts and whitest socks in a bid to impress these boys. Boys who by the way were always way too few considering the demographics I mentioned in point number 3. And me, what did I do? I sat back and watched this spectacle while laughing my head off because I really didn’t care! And I apologize to these girls for laughing at them so much, but honestly if you’d seen yourself, you’d be laughing too!

Ciao...