Why you may or may not miss high school/college

Our high school/college days seem well behind us, don't they?

There are certainly things most us might miss about that time of our lives, including:

Having a busier social life than we do now: People go in different directions after high school, causing us to lose contact with many of our closest friends. And though we may be able to keep in touch with a few, things are never quite the same. Proximity plays a huge role when it comes to friendships. It was so much easier to maintain them when you knew you'd see your buddies every day in gym class or Home Ec. Once you graduate from college and have bills, work, and other priorities to worry about, an active social life no longer takes precedence. Once we hit our 30s and 40s, we can consider ourselves lucky if we have three people we can call true friends.

Being closer to family members: For most of us, our high school years comprise the last stretch in which we'll ever live at home with our parents. While living at home can have its disadvantages (see below), most of us have a lot of fond memories to look back on, which can make the transition to dorm life hard to adjust to, at least initially. Our loved ones age, and as is true of friendships, many familial relationships change over time when proximity isn't as strong.

On the flip side, there are things we don't miss about our high school/college years:

Being broke: Having to ask mom or dad for lunch money or to borrow the car for a date wasn't fun. There's a lot to be said for being financially secure enough to pay your bills. It creates a stable foundation for all the big life events that follow, like buying a home, getting married, and having children.

Being farther away from family members: Many of us looked forward to going to college and living on campus because it gave us a sense of independence we could never experience while living at home. As long as we were under our parents' roof, we had to abide by their rules -- no leaving the dishes dirty, putting the TV too loud, or staying out past midnight. We might also fight with siblings for the phone or shower, for example. In essence, college gave us an opportunity to come into our own. Fewer rules and more freedom was no doubt refreshing.

Do you agree with the points above? Would you add anything to the list?

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