So you’re done.

It probably feels free. Exciting.

You might be angry you missed a lot of those classic senior moments. If you’re upset and disappointed, that’s okay.

But as much as it hurts, graduating isn’t about the ceremony, or flashing a devious smile at the underclassmen on the last day. Graduating is about the whole world opening up, unknowable and endless in front of you.

After I graduated from South, I moved onto a four-year university that felt oddly familiar, where I’m currently studying journalism, trying to figure out how I want to start my life. I say “start” because whatever you choose to do next is only a page in your book.

Your next move will not determine everything.

Whether you choose to go to a community college, a public university, a private university, a trade school, a program abroad, a job, or if you have no clue what you’re about to do– your next year will sometimes be exciting and disappointing. It will not determine the rest of your life.

Right now, stop worrying and give yourself space to celebrate. To revel in all you have accomplished. You finished years of schooling that you once felt would never end. You did it! Give yourself space to have fun. Stop taking things so seriously– if only for a little while.

And in a few months, you might feel lost: you’re finding it difficult to make new friends, you don’t know what to major in, or what job to get, or where to volunteer. Give yourself space to flounder. It’s going to be okay. You made it this far.

What I’m saying is, once you graduate high school, you might feel like you need to get everything right. But tell yourself that it’s okay if you can’t figure things out right now.

When I graduated, I remember thinking that I had to abandon all my childhood dreams. I felt that it was time to grow up, get serious, and forget about childish things. I was sad. I didn’t want to leave those big, beautiful dreams behind.

Now isn’t the time to forget about your childhood’s inclinations. Now is the time to dream bigger, more fiercely and more creatively than you ever have before.

Get dreaming. You’ve just added a fresh, clean page to your story. You decide how to write it.