Mine was a social one. I realised how crappy forced social circles are.
When you're in school, you're friends with the people who are also in school, at the same school (generally) but then in year 12 (my senior year, for those in America) I realised quickly 'Wow. There's a world out there...And some of the people there are better than the people I'm used to.'
So, I started socialising with people i met outside of school over those I knew at school, and cut out most people I had a more objective negative opinion of. 😛
Gosh, if I only knew what I know now there are many things I would have done different while in high school. I would have taken advantage of more opportunities and built more professional relationships with my teachers. I do agree with you @IkaBula there is a whole another world out there. I probably wouldn't have stressed out about tests and homework as much as I did. A lot of high school I just went through the motions and did what was expected of me...I would have probably questioned the teachers more and opened up to my peers more. I was honestly a bit of a loner in high school and only spoke with a few close friends who are still my friends today. It helps to know people though especially in the career world and having a better relationship with more of my classmates and teachers may have opened more doors for me.
That I'm not going to be stuck with those people for the rest of my life. Not everyone in my graduating class was bad, but some of them were just kinda meh. I'm definitely a lot happier in college.
I also learned that even teachers reinforce cliques and sorta create their own too by picking favorites. Not sure if that was just a thing that happened at my school since the teachers tried to be cool with the students, but by my senior year, I really felt like I could see a divide between the students the teachers really liked and the students that the teachers didn't necessarily dislike but they weren't part of that "clique," so to speak. I noticed it a lot my junior and senior years, but as I've looked back on it over the years when reminiscing about high school with people, it was definitely there all four years.
* Taking Notes*
