It’s your senior year at La Joya. You’re on the final lap. The final leg. You’ve gone through three years of positive (or negative!) experiences, and it’s the end. So what do you do now?
If you’re working on graduating, you’ve probably experienced a sensation known as stress. Stress is defined as “a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.” (Oxford Dictionaries). Especially if you have AP or Honors classes, you might have a LOT of it. But there are ways to manage stress! Your senior year doesn’t have to suck.
First things first, make a plan. Lay out EXACTLY what you want to get done in a single time period. Maybe a day, or a week, or even a month. But make it manageable. Maybe make a goal for yourself to get a class grade up from a B to an A in a week. That’s the best way to start taking control.
As humans, we don’t always have a lot of time. We are always bustling around, up to things. Managing your time can help you accomplish everything that you want to do, pleasing yourself, and others, too. How proud do you think your parents/friends will be when you walk out on the stage with good grades? ENORMOUSLY. But most importantly, you will feel more relaxed overall.
“School, homework, extracurricular activities, sleep, repeat—that’s what it can be for some of these students,” says Noelle Leonard, PhD, a senior research scientist at the New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN).
“It is alarming that the teen stress experience is so similar to that of adults. It is even more concerning that they seem to underestimate the potential impact that stress has on their physical and mental health,” says APA CEO and Executive Vice President Norman B. Anderson, PhD. “In order to break this cycle of stress and unhealthy behaviors as a nation, we need to provide teens with better support and health education at school and home, at the community level and in their interactions with health care professionals.” Teens can suffer from stress, just as much as adults. It’s important to tackle the issue as best we can.
The take-away from this article would be this: don’t worry. Everything will be fine. You have resources to help you, nothing is as bleak as it seems. You’ve got this.
