By Maeghen Carter
staff writer
Let’s talk about something I’ve been dealing with for almost all of my public school experience. Every single person I know has gone through it in some way. Everyone would love to go without it. It’s drama. After years of dealing with drama, I’ve learned some pretty valuable information that I wish I had known much earlier. Am I perfect at dealing with drama? Not even a little bit. But there are still things that everyone, including myself, needs to know and work on. Let me share with you.
One of the most important things you’ll deal with in school is the fact that people change. You may have had the same group of friends since kindergarten, but high school is where people change the most. And it may not always be for the worst. High school opens you up to so many different kinds of people and gives you so many more opportunities to meet new people. This time in life is when people begin to realize who they are and what they want to do with life. Your ‘best friend’ may end up being different from you in that way. You have to realize this and let it happen. Trying to force someone to be something they’re not will only cause tension. If you accept this, yeah you might drift apart, but you’ll still always be on good terms.
Let it go. It doesn’t matter whose fault it is or who said what or who glared at whom, you have to move on. It may be the most difficult thing to do, but forgiving and forgetting will make everyone happier. You’ll realize later on that whatever you were upset about wasn’t worth all the stress it caused you. The earlier you move on from something, the easier it will be. Don’t make it awkward. If you see someone that you have had past drama with, don’t get uncomfortable. Odds are, they probably don’t even care anymore. It’ll make everyone else around you feel weird also.
Don’t glare, don’t be rude and don’t do anything that you wouldn’t do to any other person. I’m not saying you have to be overly nice and act like their best friend, but being polite and civil will be so much less awkward than glaring or saying mean things. Even if they’re being a jerk, still be nice. You’ll look like the bigger person to everyone else and people will have more respect for you.
Don’t make a big deal out of little things. If someone says something, posts something, tweets something, etc. don’t freak out. Especially if you are not 100% sure it is about you. 99 out of 100 times, it’s not. Even if it is about you, act like you don’t care. They’re probably trying to get a reaction out of you. They’ll either let it go or continue with it. If they do continue and you are genuinely concerned, confront them in a calm, polite way in person. Freaking out over tiny remarks that only happen once or twice will make everything worse.
Lastly, don’t spread rumors. Just don’t. There is no good reason why spreading a lie about a person is a good thing. It doesn’t matter how funny or interesting it is, it’ll only end up hurting the person it’s about and making you look bad.
Like I said, I am nowhere near perfect at dealing with drama and I won’t be for a while. Handling drama the right way every single time is something only a few people can do and it takes years of patience and practicing. If I had realized all these things early on, I would have had a much less stressful time at school. Next time you’re in a bad situation, remember these rules. Will it really matter five years down the road anyway?
