Frustrations and tips for making it through the year

Everyone believes senior year is the best because you’re stress-free and only have a few classes, but they’re wrong because it’s the most stressful and perhaps depressing year of your life. Since Covid began, everything about high school has changed. Not only do you have to wear a mask for eight hours straight, but you also have to  climb four flights of stairs, making it impossible to breathe.

  This is how my senior year of high school as gone so far. First and foremost, I was not happy to return to in-person high school; I enjoyed online learning because I felt at ease, felt like I had enough time to complete my homework and classwork, and I could eat whenever I wanted. At home, I wasn’t worried about getting Covid or wearing a mask for eight hours.

Even so, I was alright until I wasn’t. At some point this year, I lost motivation and stopped doing my assignments and some of my schoolwork. I also had a job and had to worry about college and how I would pay off my tuition without taking out loans. It all became too much for me to handle. 

So I decided to change things to improve my mental health and to balance everything out.  I made a list of things I need to focus on so that everything doesn’t come crashing down on me and I don’t have to overthink things. I started meditating more and now that I’m at work, I can accomplish most of my homework during my hour lunch break, and on my days off, I can rest or have some me time.

I’m still working on my mental health, but being a senior isn’t easy because there will be days when you just want to relax and days when you don’t want to do anything. You can always write it down or text your teacher to let them know, so they won’t be so hard on you.