As Carrie Bradshaw, the protagonist of the world-renowned TV show “Sex and the City” once said, “Maybe the past is like an anchor holding us back. Maybe you have to let go of who you were to become who you will be.”

High school was a stepping stone, a means of receiving passing grades to get into college. High schoolers spend years enduring late-night study sessions and mental breakdowns, all leading up to that pinnacle moment where they get into their dream school. And now that we have all reached that milestone. What’s next? Do we leave the people we were in high school in the past and start a new life in college, where we can choose new relationships, friends and even a new personality?

In high school, long-lasting relationships were myths and romances were rarely taken seriously. In a world of Snapchat streaks and “he said, she said,” genuine relationships were hard to come by. The gap between high school and college is astronomical, and now, we have the opportunity to form real, meaningful relationships. So I couldn’t help but wonder: Do we follow Carrie’s advice and leave our old selves behind to find whoever we are supposed to become? Do we ever really leave our high school selves behind?

The first time I walked across the Spine, I was excited and nervous to begin a new chapter of my life with the knowledge that I could reinvent myself. But despite the thousands of unfamiliar faces, I couldn’t help but think about the person I was not even a few months ago in a completely different environment. Somehow, that person already felt like a lifetime ago.

When we come to college, we transition from small, 20-person classrooms where participation is encouraged to 400-person classes in Lecture Hall 1. We go from lockers and juggling eight classes each day to barely making it to four classes each week. In a world full of GPAs and Dean’s Lists, it is still equally important to focus on the relationships you make outside of the classroom with the people you find in the massive undergraduate population.

However, in many ways, high school and college are exactly the same. In a world where hook-up culture is encouraged and relationships are still rare, it is almost uncanny how little relationships change between high school and college. We still carry our old friendships and relationships with us, no matter where we go. We still think about those failed Snapchat streaks or fleeting relationships. Deep down, we all hold a piece of who we were before. Can we ever truly leave our high school selves in the past? Can we ever truly start on a clean slate?

Maybe we never really leave our high school selves behind. And maybe it’s vital that in college, we hold on to who we were in the past and the relationships that shaped who we are today. In navigating the turmoils of college, through its ups and downs, the past can shape us instead of holding us back.