Starting over at a new school with no reputation is scary. It’s also the only time nobody has decided who you are yet.

A reputation you did not choose can follow you for years, and most people never get the chance to set one down. Arriving somewhere unknown is uncomfortable precisely because nothing is established, which is the same reason it is an opening. The version of you everybody assumed was fixed is suddenly up for revision. The fear and the opportunity are one fact seen from two sides.

If you are somewhere new, pick one thing about how you used to be seen that you would rather not repeat. Behave differently about it from week one, before a new story sets.