#TEENTALK: Dealing With School Stress Ft Maddie

Hey guys! My name is Maddie and I’m a high school junior and lifestyle blogger. The 2018/2019 school year is coming to an end, which means summer is almost here! However, that also means finals and AP (or IB) tests are among us, which is quite the stress-inducer for most of us. Starting out the school year, all my older friends told me to be prepared for the storm of junior year. I sorta believed them (I mean, according to all my school guidance counsellors, it’s the most important year of high school), but I had no clue the amount of work this school year would bring me! I’m not saying I had 6 hours of homework and projects like some of my friends in college did, but there were some points in the year where I was so stressed with family, work, sports, school, the SAT, etc, that I’d get overwhelmed and start crying while I was doing homework or studying. Not fun.

Slowly, I started to pick up on ways to deal with my coursework and to deal with my stress because of school. These tips helped me have a less stressful school year, and hopefully will help you too!

GET YOUR WORK DONE EARLY

I honestly HATE going home and going straight to doing homework, but you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. Whenever it’s a long weekend, a holiday break, or any sort of extended break, I try to get my work out of the way ASAP. It obviously isn’t very fun, and it’s a bummer starting out your break with lots of homework and projects, but it pays off when you don’t have to stress about schoolwork the Sunday before going back to school. I learned this the hard way the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, when I put off reading an entire book AND doing an essay until the last week of the summer! It’s definitely not a fun way to end your vacation, and putting it off is just going to lead to stress in the end.

PUT SCHOOL IN PERSPECTIVE

This might be an unpopular opinion to some, but school work should always come AFTER your mental health, and mental health should come first. Mental health is SO important for your current and future well-being. Now I’m not saying you should not do your schoolwork just because you don’t feel like it, but you shouldn’t be emotionally hurting yourself to get a good grade! Putting mental health first is different for everyone, too. It might be taking an hour to enjoy yourself every evening, taking a mental health day off from school, or really anything that allows your mind to take a break. Just remember that while high school does matter, it isn’t and shouldn’t be your entire life.

GET SOME MORE REST

Finally, possibly the easiest tip I have for you all, is to try to get some more rest. I used to stay up until 11 or 11:30 every night studying (usually texting my friends or playing video games though). Starting to go to sleep earlier made a big difference in my mood and productivity levels! Along with that, I find that doing my school work or studying earlier in the day leads to better work done and generally less stress. Whenever I procrastinate my work until the nighttime, I find myself feeling SO stressed about getting my work done and attempting to go to bed at a reasonable time, while still making my work quality content.

Anyways guys, I hope you have a good (stress-free) rest of the school year! – Maddie

My Blog: https://www.takeontheworldwith.me/

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/takeontheworldwme/