Make time for yourself

It didn’t really occur to me sophomore year that I was living at the school and was so overwhelmed that I would have weekly, sometimes daily, breakdowns where I wouldn’t know what to do. Being a soccer coach, the secretary of National Art Honor Society, a photographer for the JagWire and a part of the theatre department caused so much stress that I became anxious, stressed and irritable all at the time.

Of course, I ignored this. I thought it was a normal thing for teenagers.

Being so involved to where feeling extremely stressed or even sleep deprived is not OK. It could be that even having two extracurriculars is too much for someone, which can be normal. Everyone has different breaking points. Tailor your high school experience to what fits you best and keeps you in both a mentally and physically healthy state. This includes creating enough time for you to do something you love everyday.

I know there are a few skeptics out there, but people at Mill Valley do care about how you are doing. Teachers, as well as your friends and your parents, notice when something isn’t right. When I started to lose my positive vibe that I carry everywhere was when I had the realization that something was not healthy in my high school experience.

My mom and I talked and we came to the conclusion that even though it didn’t seem like it at the time, I was spread too thin. We spent nearly a week trying to figure out whether or not I wanted to continue in some of my extracurriculars. For a few days I played with the idea of quitting newspaper, as it took up most of my time. Since my mom saw how devastated I was even toying with the idea of leaving my journalism family, we decided that was not the best option for me.

Fortunately for my journalism career, this occurred the week I got my invitation to join National Honor Society. After making my decision, I had to assure my parents that declining NHS is truly what I wanted and needed to be happy. I am not saying that I am at all happy with how I chose not to join a club that would provide brownie points on future college applications or that it would be the best answer for anyone else. Declining NHS seemed to be the best option for me.

Instead of quitting everything, I learned how to schedule in at least 15 minutes of personal time everyday. In doing this, I was able to reduce my stress levels by a fair amount and was able to stay involved in school through NAHS, theatre and newspaper, but only because I had to decline others to keep myself happy and healthy, which is way more important than being so involved in extracurriculars that you cannot function as you would do so normally.

Even though it’s important to be involved in various extracurriculars, make sure to leave a designated time for yourself each week, if not everyday. Whether that be to game, read a book or even sit and do nothing, treat yourself. It’s important to have a time set where you do what you truly want to.