The Future is a Scary Place - the unpredictability of it all manifests itself into the shadows, but what’s life without a little risk? After all, maybe there’s something bright waiting for you at the other side of the mountain.

The first Silver Linings article I wrote was all about looking back, so it’s only fitting that this final one looks forwards. As much as I find myself stuck living in the pages that have already been written of my life, it is refreshing to wonder about the mystery awaiting for me to write next. I don’t really know what I’m doing, and neither does anyone else, but it’s always fun to pretend like you do. Eventually, you’ll find your way and be able to pretend like you knew what you were doing all along.

When you first step into high school, your link leaders tell you that it’s going to be normal to lose friends and not to worry about it (I should know, I was that link crew leader before the pandemic), and I think that still stands, the notion being able to be applied to lots of other situations. As people, we are constantly growing and outgrowing situations - it’s just a part of growing up and becoming your best self. It’s funny looking back at how scared I was back then - not knowing what was ahead of me in high school - especially now that I know how it all turned out. There wasn’t much to fear, really, although I can’t help but feel the familiar touch of anxious anticipation creep up for what awaits me next.

Like many graduates, next year I’ll be beginning a new venture at university (as long as no surprises pop up), meeting new people and new friends, and gaining even more knowledge about myself. Like before, we will lose friends, but learn lessons from them. There will be new trends, new revelations, new stories to tell, new people to meet, and so many more “new’s” that will build upon each of our identities. It may be a petrifying truth, but anxiety is an evolutionary byproduct: it’s completely natural.

You never know what’s waiting for you in the future, but that’s the exciting part. It could be the best news of your life, or it could be the darkest cloud waiting to rain upon you. Whichever one happens, I hope that this column has inspired you to always look for that silver lining: the little ounce of sunshine behind the suffocating darkness. It always exists, whether you believe it or not, because without sunshine there would be no darkness, and vice versa. There will always be a break from calamitous waves; they don’t rage on forever - and there will always need to be waves to cool the air down from too much heat.

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