High School Formals

Life lessons from your formal

19 November 2012 by admin in Homepage, Latest

By Kate





Formal season is a time for enjoying yourself, letting loose and making the most of your last big event as a “kid”. But in amongst all the frivolity, it’s interesting to take note of how much you may actually be learning through the process. Below are just a few of the life lessons you might take away from the formal experience:


Goal setting
Formal planning is really about setting a series of goals to work towards. With everything you’ll want to achieve around formal time, your organisational skills will be put to the test dealing with time constraints, budget constraints, and all your other commitments. Having well-defined goals will help keep you focused and motivated throughout the process. Remember the key to setting goals is to make them clear and easily achievable, in order to avoid too much stress or disappointment.


Managing your budget
High school formals are expensive at the best of times, which is why deciding on a budget and sticking to it is so important. Though it may be tempting to go a tad overboard when you see your friends splurging on a new pair of shoes or extra hair clips, setting a limit ensures that you won’t be spending every Saturday night babysitting for the rest of your life to pay it off. Through sticking to a spending plan you’ll learn the joys of financial responsibility!


Negotiation skills
It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to get through your formal preparations without having at least one fight with your parents. Whether it’s the length of your dress, how much money you’re spending, or whether or not you’ll be attending the after-party, there are bound to be a few things you’ll disagree on. Try to look at this as an opportunity to perfect the art of negotiation. You’ll learn how to pick your battles and know when to compromise in order to work towards an outcome that suits everyone involved.


Life prioritisation
You’ve got school, friends, family, perhaps a part-time job, and then all of a sudden seemingly endless hours of formal preparations are thrown in on top of it. All these different aspects of your life can be hard to manage at once, and sometimes you can feel like you’re spreading yourself too thin. The best way to cope is to decide what is most important to you, and focus the majority of your time and energy on that. Leave the less urgent or non-essential things to tackle later – the skill of juggling is in knowing which ball to catch!


Stress management
This may be the first big event you’ve planned in your life so far, and as a result the first time you’ve had to deal with this sort of pressure. With all the other Year 12 activity, it’s essential to learn how to relax. Try to take one day at a time, handle one thing at a time, and find out what calms you. Understanding that things may go wrong, and working out how to deal with that, is one of the most important lessons to learn in life.