Fear, nervousness, anxiousness, elation, excitement. I went through the entire range of emotions in the three minutes waiting in the wings for our “Hoscars” talent show performance last week  – it had been a while since I last performed before such a large group of people.

As regretful as I am about it, I remain relatively out of touch with my cultural heritage. Sure I eat Indian food at home and celebrate select holidays, but the buck stops there. I’m lucky if I can speak above a kindergarten level in my native language – forget watching the latest Bollywood movie. And that’s why I valued our culturally-themed Hoscars performance; it was a way to reconnect with my Indian side while simultaneously experiencing the forgotten feeling of performing before such a large crowd.

I loved performing in middle school but had to abandon the stage due to other commitments. Watching plays, musicals, and dance shows over the past four years have made me consider the alternate paths of my high school existence. Would my life be significantly different had I indulged myself in performing arts throughout high school? Would I be more or less content with the last four years? These thoughts finally broke through to me and forced me to actively contemplate performing again. Though I couldn’t audition for SDS or the musical this year, I felt that I owed myself a final return to performing before leaving for college.

On Matriculation Day back in August, I created a “senior year bucket list” – all the activities or experiences I wanted to complete before graduation. While I didn’t think I would have the opportunity to complete all of them, “no regrets” has remained my personal motto for the last few months.

The free time I enjoy during this semester has offered me the opportunity to rediscover several old pastimes, everything from finding more time to read for pleasure to picking up my guitar again after months of little practice.

Regret often accompanies remembering a past hobby, but the only way to overcome it is to ease your way into it and revisit it with the same passion as before. Had I lazily worked my way through the motions during Hoscars, I doubt I would have enjoyed it as much. Dancing with passion, despite not remembering half the moves, made the experience far more enjoyable, which is all that really mattered to me.

And so I encourage all to revive a forgotten love, whether that be playing a sport again during your senior year or reaching out to a friend from whom you have grown apart. It’s only natural to find yourself engaging in new activities during high school, but make sure not to discard old ones too quickly. Feel free to revive them if you can, giving them their proper due before allowing them to perish.

I am content that I can cross something else off the list I created at the beginning of the year. Here’s hoping we all can.