Junior-High...No need to return.

Feb 17, 2021

Do you ever think, “Man...I wish I could be in junior-high again...”?  

Yeah, me neither.  🙂

Certainly there are certain moments I wouldn’t mind revisiting.  But all the stuff that goes with it?  Nah.  I could do without that.

Last weekend the boys watched a movie that reminded me of this.  Jessica Darling’s IT List.  

You guessed it...Jessica is the main character.  And just before her first day of junior-high, her older sister gives her an "IT list"...a checklist for navigating the junior-high popularity hierarchy.

Ugh.  

Jessica’s sister was a popular, star cheerleader before she graduated, so Jessica is expected to be as well.

But Jessica has zero cheerleading-related talent, & even more importantly, zero desire.  

Jessica prefers wearing t-shirts, & it’s the only thing she even wants when her mom insists on a shopping spree.  No girly stuff for her.  

All of this was fine pre-junior-high.

But then she tries out for cheerleading because she’s expected to.  She falls, everyone laughs, & she’s humiliated.

Her best friend makes the cheerleading squad & starts hanging out with the other cheerleaders.

And because Jessica’s sister is legendary, the cheerleading coach asks Jessica to be the mascot...But she insists Jessica not tell anyone. 

So Jessica becomes the mascot.  She’s amazing, but no one can even know it’s her!

The cheerleaders are mad because the mascot is getting all the attention.  

The non-cheerleaders love the mascot.

She feels caught in the middle, & no one even knows.  

Blah, blah, more junior-high ridiculousness, blah, blah…

In the end…

(I swear the boys were still watching it at this point, too...I think.)

Jessica & her best friend stay best friends...

She makes new friends, too...The boy she met in her shop class, one of the girls from lunch…

She joins track & learns she’s a natural runner.

It goes exactly as you would expect, right?  

Few stories end with everyone hating one another & being friendless, do they?

Yet we’re often still afraid of that even in adult life, aren’t we?

Maybe not consciously.  But we’re social creatures.  We ALL want to fit in.

Even as adults, we’re still a bit lost & trying to figure out our “thing”, aren’t we?

Ever feel like you’re trying to meet certain people’s expectations?

Concerned about what other people will think? That people won’t appreciate the talents you do have or will judge you for not having others?

No one gets everything figured out in junior-high, so why do we act like we should have? Or like we’re still there?

Listen to what your heart is really telling you to try, & give it a whirl.  

Maybe it won’t be your thing, & you’ll try something else.  Who knows?

But one thing is certain.  You will never have to return to junior-high. Hallelujah. 

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