Overcoming Change…

Stepping out of your comfort zone

Waking up one morning it suddenly hit me, the end of the year was just around the corner and the precious years at primary school were to be no more.

Usually, I was a calm and relaxed person, but this meant moving away from friends I had known for years and going to a new place where I knew nobody but an older sibling in the senior. I was no longer a year 8 - the oldest, in a small school.

The overwhelming feeling of high school was scarey, and the end of the year was approaching faster than ever.

The first day of high school came, we had to gather on the front lawn of the school. The other years were not starting yet as it was a day for the newcomers. We sat by our house group flags in a big line as there was about 400 new people, I don’t think I was not the only one who felt nervous. We sat there for over 2 hours listening to teachers and head students who had come to pass on knowledge. They handed out snacks and drinks. I don’t remember much in between, it seemed like such an overwhelming blur. The next thing I recall we went to our assigned form classes.

As I wandered in I could not believe my eyes, finally out of 400 other kids, someone that I knew from primary school 3 years ago. Immediately clinging to familiarity, I hung out with her at interval, I was still incredibly shy and followed her and her friends around, this was not like me, why did I feel like this, was it anxiety?

The next day turned up and thankfully I was able to hang out with some year 10 students I knew as I was still too shy to make friends in my year. I was saved, but not during class time.

A few weeks later, a terrible thing happened. The year 10s had a day off school, it took me most all of first break before realising they weren’t there. I felt so alone for what felt like eternity in school hours. I knew I needed to change this...

So I put my brave face on and before lunchtime I worked up the courage to ask some girls in my form class to hang out. Something I will never forget as they were so lovely. In fact I am still friends with them today.

Although, going from a small Christian School to a large high school seemed a massive step, I realised after being an extrovert in my old school, easily warming to people, I’d now become introverted.

Depending on your personality, I believe changing to a big school for anyone is likely to make you feel this way at some stage.

Just as I felt in the beginning, it can seem like everyone’s eyes are on you, judging you.

But it was not too long and as more time passed until we were eventually halfway through the year, those feelings had surprisingly subsided.

I had actually adapted to high school and became comfortable with people in my year.

I’ve become relaxed and sociable with most people in my classes now. I have made plenty of friends, but still find myself shifting friend groups

My most recent group of friends I have found, I seem to really fit with. Hopefully this is where I settle. Although school will never be perfect, I still feel the stares of others as I walk around, I feel them judging me. It may be in my head, but thats just me or perhaps its just high school... time will tell. I don’t know why people stare or if i am just imagining it, but for now I am not letting it bother me anymore.

We now have bigger things to worry about these days with COVID-19. Although still scary, lockdown seems a normal thing now and once again in New Zealand it came swiftly. Most kids love to stay home from school, we still have online school. But for me it’s hard to find the motivation to get out my computer and do the work, and I’m sure many other kids can understand and relate to that.

Perhaps they need to teach kids how to become motivated, as I see this happening on and off for quite some time to come. I worry how much we will miss out on overall.

So looking back, high school isn’t really all that bad. Yes, I just spent ages over thinking how people stare and everything else that bothered me. But I am on the other side of that and I realise time is all you need to adapt and get used to change.

If my experience helps someone else feel more relaxed about starting high school, then I am glad I could share this with you.

Hopefully this short lived period I experienced helps you overcome change and be brave to step out of your comfort zone.

Written by
Jade Moyle (14 years)