9 Ways Adulthood Would Be Better If It Were More Like High School

1. Passing notes

How fun was that? Texting is a cool invention, but wouldn’t it be great if when you sat down at the brunch table your friend passed you a little football shaped note that said something like “Hey girl, I ran into Stephen at Target and he totally smiled a little bit when he saw me but I didn’t say anything. I am such a nerd! lol. NEWAYS not lookin forward to work today but whatever. Miss you. WBS.”

2. Dressing up for game days

How cool would it be if your work team dressed up for a big day in matching jerseys? When you walk around the hallways/streets people would wish you luck and you could get super pumped up on team spirit. (If you’re not now imagining the Thought Catalog team running around Williamsburg in black and white jerseys, you should be).

3. Learning

Being taught something is so luxurious. These days if I need to know a new thing about technology or the news or history, I have to figure out where I can find reliable information and teach myself. There’s no one to simply ask a question and have the answer spoonfed to you. Now if you ask someone you get a let me fucking google that for you link.

4. Coed sleepovers

The platonic kind–sleeping on a floor with ten of your best friends, playing spin the bottle and generally being a dumbass.

5. Sleeping in

I used to pride myself on not needing as much sleep as other people until I started not having to wake up at a specific time in the morning and I realized getting enough sleep makes me about a million times happier. I feel so much less stressed out now. Even if it’s a Saturday only activity, sleeping in kind of rules.

6. Driving around

I realize this has more to do with living in an urban area and gas prices than my chronological age, but I really miss driving around! My friends and I would drive around town for hours, going to random people’s houses, playing pranks on people, or stopping at a field or lake to sit outside and gossip. The feeling of freedom of having a car and being able to drive was so new, even driving to the next town over was thrilling.

7. Playing sports

There’s intramural leagues adults can join in most towns, but it doesn’t feel the same. Some of my favorite high school memories were during two-a-day season–the end of summer when there’s a morning practice, a few hour break, and then an afternoon practice. We’d go to someone’s house during the break and literally lay on the floor complaining about not being able to move, talking about boys, and laughing.

8. Trying new things

In school, there’s an emphasis on trying out different hobbies–AV club, theater, band, ultimate frisbee leagues, etc. Every year you could pick up something new and easily make a whole new group of friends. Sure, you can (and should) try new things your entire life, you’re just not inundated with opportunities to do so.

9. Looking forward to the future

People stop ‘liking’ growing up in their mid-late 20s, which is BS. I can’t wait for my 30’s, or to see what’s going to happen in my life. In high school, you spend a lot of time thinking about the future–who you want to be, where you’ll go to college, the people you’ll meet, what career you’ll choose. This shouldn’t end just because you went to college and have a job. Life has about 60 more years to take you fun, exciting, new places. There’s no reason not to look forward to it.