High school can be stressful and tough, but here are some tips I’ve learned in my high school career so far that will help you keep on top of everything, happy, and successful!
Keep your body happy
Your body can be your best friend or your worst enemy, and it’s up to you to choose. If you don’t take care of your body and its needs, you’ll end up with drowsiness, hunger pains, acne, weight gain, and all sorts of other unpleasant things that make keeping up with schoolwork nearly impossible. Solving these problems is as easy as good hygeine, drinking water, eating well, getting exercise, blahdeeblahblahblah. Yeah, I get it. You’ve heard all this over and over again until you feel like your ears will start bleeding in health class, right? But you’re a busy person. Who has time to exercise? And vegetables are nasty, right? The solution is simple: Cheat the system! You don’t have to choke down a plate full of broccoli to be healthy. Try holding your breath, plugging your nose, and chugging down one of the little cans of V8 veggie juice with your lunch. I promise you, if you drink it quickly enough and don’t breathe, you will barely taste it, and it will be over before you know it. And there you go, a full serving of veggies, quick and relatively painless! After that, just have a glass of V-Fusion while you’re studying that afternoon or with dinner, and you’ve got another serving of veggies down along with a serving of fruit. V8 is your friend! As far as exercise goes, if your school is freakin’ huge like mine is, you get plenty of exercise just walking to class, and the more stairs you use, the better! Just tack on 30 minutes or an hour of walking each day on the weekends and do some simple arm exercises by lifting and lowering your bookbag with your textbooks in it (I’m not joking – finally, a use for all that weight!), and you’re set. For an ab workout, suck in your tummy during classes. Ten seconds of sucking in equals one crunch!
Keep your head above water
Especially if you are taking a challenging load of Advanced Placement classes like I am, staying on top of everything you have to do to keep your grades up is a real challenge. First of all, write down every homework assignment your teacher mentions in class. You might be loathe to pull out your agenda book right before the bell rings and so you tell yourself you’ll remember it until you get to your next class and can jot it down then. However, there is no worse feeling in the world than having the teacher tell you to turn in an assignment you have absolutely no memory of the next day. You’re better off safe than sorry – write it down. And once you get home and realize you have so much homework that night that you feel like screaming and cowering under your bed, what do you do? First, calm down. Take 20 minutes or so to relax and do something calming like reading, listening to music, talking to a friend, etc. Once you’ve had a short break (don’t get too carried away with the relaxing!) to de-stress from school, take a deep breath and open your bookbag. Start out by making a list of what you have to do that night and the date that it’s due. Now, group that list in three groups: high priority, medium priority, and low priority. The stuff due soonest and/or worth the most points will obviously be higher priority, and vice versa. Now you have a game plan. First, knock out what’s in your high priority group, and then get as much of your medium priority stuff done as possible, and, if you have any time left, start on your low priority group. This way, you can get the most important assignments done without wasting time on things that don’t matter as much, and you have an organized way of handling things rather than looking at a big clump of to-do’s and freaking out.
Sleep is your friend
Speaking from personal experience, the biggest thing that contributes to a poor test grade or not being able to finish homework is tiredness. Your whole day is automatically ruined when you’re slogging into first period feeling like you have 50-lb weights tied to your shoulders. I know that you’re really busy with assignments and extracurriculars, but sleep isn’t something that you can just write off. I’m not going to sound like the insufferable health teacher and preach that you have to get a certain amount of hours each night. I’m a junior – I know that isn’t always possible. However, there are ways to stay rested. Say you have a test in second period that you studied like crazy for, and it only takes you half the period to finish. Ball up your jacket on your desk, have a catnap for the rest of the period, and grab a cold bottle of water from a vending machine on the way to your next class. You should feel refreshed! Also, if you feel dead when you get home (it’s actually scientifically proven that your body gets really tired for a few hours in the early afternoon), take a few hours’ nap. That way you won’t be half dead during homework. Grab sleep while you can!
Make time for what you love
With lofty goals and parental and teacher pressure to do well, it’s easy to get caught up in schoolwork and feel like you don’t have any time to do what you love. However, if you keep going like that, you’ll go insane! Your favorite relaxing activities, in my case reading, writing, and loom knitting, are what keep your stress levels low and keep you happy. If you feel like you no longer have time for them, you’ll become frazzled and worn down. Now, you might feel like it’s impossible to fit a few chunks of me-time into your busy schedule, but think back on the last week or so. How much time did you spend on things that weren’t really productive or school related and yet not really fun? Did you veg out in front of a stupid TV show you didn’t enjoy for 30 minutes here or loaf about aimlessly and bored on Facebook for an hour there? You’ll probably find that you really do have time for yourself; you just have to find it! For the next few days so, jot down everything you do after school and the time that you do it (for example: 2:20-2:30 – had snack and flipped through catalogue, 2:45-3:30 – watched annoying court show on TV, 3:30-4:00 – talked on phone, 4:00-5:00 – history homework, etc.). Then go back over your list. You’ll find yourself thinking things like did I really need to spend a whole half hour talking to Susan about her homecoming woes? Or why on earth did I spend 30 minutes watching Judge Judy when I hate that show? And see, there’s a whole hour just waiting for you to take advantage of and fill with something you truly enjoy that will leave you happy and fulfilled afterwards.
I hope this handful of simple tips that I’ve learned from my own high school experience helps you have a happier, less stressed, more successful high school career!
