How to Balance School and Life

(Balance, by David.svg) 

Balancing school with extracurricular activities or life in general can be a difficult task. The video below offers one of the many ways that we can balance our schedules. Writing things down helps me the most because it offers me a physical reminder of what I need to do.  If I know I need to study for a test or go out for a run I write it down on a to do list. This increases the odds of me doing the task. Even in college I still use this method to get work done. It never hurts to make a schedule so try it out. I do this often ahead of a big week as I know things can get really hectic. This allows for a clear path forward so I know what to expect and not be surprised when the week arrives.

A little bit of advice for a successful social life in high school

I want to start off by saying that not everyone’s high school experience is going to be the same, but you’re all in it together and the next four years are really going to determine your future so make it worth it. All of you are in 8th grade right now and planning ahead might not be your thing, but consider changing some aspects in your life.

If you’re introverted be sure to step out of your comfort zone and make friendships that will last forever, most importantly stay in contact with your teachers; they can really help with your college application process your junior year. If you’re an extrovert keep doing what you’re doing, but be sure you’re being responsible by completing your tasks because being too extroverted can get you distracted from your responsibilities and goals. 

Don’t stress about being the most popular kid in high school, it won’t matter to anyone after you’re out of there so just be yourself. If you get to be your true self then you will have time to explore what you like and don’t like, but if you’re trying to fit in with the crowd then you’ll never know your real identity because you will be too busy being what other people want you to be. 

Furthermore, let me briefly tell you about my experience. I went into high school being really social, a lot of people knew me and I knew a lot of people. Most of these people were college bound, but they put partying and other things as their priorities and they didn’t end up going away to college. Thankfully way before all of that happened I noticed that they weren’t the best crowd so I stopped talking to them and surrounded myself with more responsible people and now I’m here at UCSB…THRIVING. My point is don’t be afraid of being yourself and surround yourself with good people and your high school experience will be super smooth! Now, I understand this might be too overwhelming and scary for some you guys so this is what Ricardo, has to say about mental health.

Mind lunch for thought

Mental Health, the mind, the brains of the operation, your brain, tu cerebro. We all think, or at least I hope everybody does. You’re now going into an environment where you’re going to need to be thinking on maximum overdrive. Or so it feels that way. You might think it’s complicated, but in reality it’s as complicated as you make it for yourself.

You can have all the energy within you to perform. But about that… your energy can go in any way. Panicked, you’re capable of maximizing how intense you might feel in a stressful situation. That or you’ll have enough energy to focus on avoiding what you have to do. 

The all mighty magic, “You can’t live without it” solution is mindfulness; the bare bones definition for is maintaining awareness with your conscious self, not acting on it, but realizing where it’s at.(Berkeley,Greater Good Magazine)It’s essentially the feeling of complete relief, like how the last day of school feels. That’s what results from practicing mindfulness. Things might not be the best of situations, but you are the best you can be (Berkeley, Greater Good Magazine). The only catch is getting there.

For some it’s as simple as 1, 2, and 3. For others, it’s as complicated as 4, 8, and 29. I’ll make it a bit easy, to get in a state of mindfulness, you need to understand how you act when you’re stressed. Under stress, you’re likely breathing faster than you normally would be. It’s almost habitual for that to happen(Harvard Health Publishing). But not everyday is a fight for your life, you can pace your breathing to pace away from frenzied thinking. (Harvard Health Publishing). It might not be the end of your problems, but it’s constructive.

You’ll get somewhere that way, and if it feels like you’re not getting any better. But you are, you tried, that’s the first step of it all. It helps keep you in control (There’s also a whole pile of benefits to health(Kane)), and it’ll allow you to decide what you want to make out of high school. It beats the latter of letting defense mechanisms like anxiety or procrastination take control, trust me when I say that, that was me in high school. Now I’m sitting here in college regretting feeling like that, try your best not to copy me in that sense.

Now get out there and be mindful! Or don’t be, your choice… either way, have a good one, you reader person…

(Here’s some videos if you hate reading, are dyslexic, dislike reading, or just don’t feel like going through this portion of your regularly scheduled program, there’s options, you can go to cool math games and listen to this so you don’t get destroyed by your teachers when they ask you questions) (Also quick tip, learn to enjoy reading, it’ll make college that much easier, and you’ll be ready for AP classes in high school, leaving you enough leisure in college to maximize your experience)

Citations:

Berkeley , Greater Good Magazine. “Mindfulness Definition: What Is Mindfulness.” Greater    Good, greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition.

Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Health Publishing. “Relaxation Techniques: Breath       Control Helps Quell Errant Stress Response.” Harvard Health, www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/relaxation-techniques-breath-control-helps-quell-errant-stress-response.

Image- Troll.me