During episode 62 of This is Life Unfiltered, I sat down with Jade. She’s a content creator and 17-year-old social media wiz. She taught me more about the Internet in 1 hour than I would’ve learnt in an entire year. A few young founders who I’ve interviewed on Fearless Everyday along with some young people who follow me on Instagram all suggested I interview Jade for This is Life Unfiltered. Thank you all for your continued guest suggestions and pitches!

About 1/4 of the way through our interview, I found out that Jade dropped out of high school. Legitimately dropped out. I joke about having dropped out of high school (I did drop out before finishing high school online my junior year- in 4 months!) but I rarely meet someone who really hasn’t finished high school. I was taken aback to be honest. I am hesitant to introduce anyone on the podcast (sometimes contrary to my personal opinion) who hasn’t finished high school or college to some degree because I do think education is crucial to developing yourself and your mind. Just because it wasn’t my path doesn’t mean that everyone should skip school and become their own boss. Most young people use college as a means to finding out what career they want to pursue and what connections they will need to make to land their dream job!

In the day and age we’re living in, people don’t necessarily need college. I’m living and breathing proof that not everyone needs to go to college to land their dream job. That being said, I’ve worked my a$$ off since I was pretty much 14, and it’s taken me years to figure out how to make a living and live alone. If you have your parents financial and personal support, then by all means skip college. I will not advise anyone to leave high school because so much changes under the age of 25, and without a high school diploma you might have a difficult time getting into college if you decide to change jobs.

If your dream job is to be an influencer, realistically think about whether you’ll want to be taking selfies until you’re 30. If you do, then maybe you should take a gap year in between high school and college! If you’re like eh, that’s gonna get old real quick, then finish school. Just because myself and some people you follow on social media didn’t go to college doesn’t mean that applies to you.

It’s very easy to jump to assumptions about what you think you can do to lead the life you dream of living (or the one you see people living on Instagram) but take a few steps back and truly analyze what you’ll have to do to get that dream job. Instead of dropping out of high school (Jade is making it work, but that doesn’t mean everyone can), spend your time after school pursuing your side hobby. High school speeds by (though it doesn’t feel like it at the time) and you’ll look back and wish you were still in high school as you get older and wiser. This is the time you have to find yourself: don’t wish it by so quickly.

What’s your opinion on high school and do you wish you could go back in time to still be in high school? Let me know below!