Hello everyone! It has been quite a while since I have written anything, but today I was feeling really inspired to write so here it goes! I hope this helps someone know that they are not alone and that you can get through this crazy college process!!
It’s the start of senior year, and this is the year that you have been looking forward to since you were in middle school. Maybe even before that. This is the year that everyone said would be the easiest, and you now have seniority over all of the rest of the grades. You are unbeatable and nothing is going to stand in your way of having an amazing year.
Yeah right! Every senior in the world wishes that there was some alternate reality where this happened. A whole year free of stress and minimal work! Sounds amazing, but there is not one ounce of truth to any of that.
Instead you can look forward to a whole semester dedicated to writing essays about topics that are so boring that you want to smash your head against a wall, sending in application after application with fees (and not cheap ones either)! All while trying to figure out what you want to do with the rest of you life, finding your dream college, and most importantly keeping up with all of your other school work, because you cannot let the GPA go below a 3.9! Not to mention that you also have friends, possibly a job, your family, if you are a part of a religious organization, there is a never ending list of events, and you need to somehow keep your mental sanity.
If that list of never ending tasks scared you, that is only the first semester! The second semester gets better!
If you are academically, athletically, or musically gifted ——— scholarship competitions! Loads of them! And you have to prepare for weeks!
If you want to get money to afford your way through college——— you guessed it—-our old friends scholarships! (And most of them include an essay)
Along with family, friends, school, jobs, etc., you have to decide where you are going to go by looking at spread sheets full of numbers, looking at will you actually going to enjoy it there, and making as many college visits as it takes.
If you made it through all of that without feeling stressed or crying because it is an accurate description of your life, I want to take a moment to say that you are a heartless monster who needs to find some pity on the rest of us seniors. (just kidding about the monster part but seriously we need some help)
So, the question you are going to be asking me is, “WHY???? Why would those terrible terrible people come up with this system?” The answer is because higher education is very valuable. Many many of the jobs that are available require some kind of higher education. According to Steve Goldstein from marketwatch.com, ” Nine of out ten new jobs created in the last year [2018] have gone to those with a college degree. … A three-month average finds that 91% of the net increase in jobs held by those at least 25 years old are filled by those with at least a bachelor’s degree.”
To summarize for all the tired brains, that means that if you want to have any money in your future, you pretty much need a college education. But really if anything, that kind of makes the stress worse for us struggling through this year. Knowing that your future is dependent on you doing well for four years is daunting.
Now that we have gotten all of the heavy stuff done, lets talk a little bit about how us seniors can reduce some of our stress. Yes, you heard (or I guess read) that right. Reduce your stress!
I am not going to lie and tell you that I am not stress free. I am possibly the most stressed I have ever been in my life. So here are some tips and tricks that I have heard from my mentors and peers and what I have found that I hope will help you!
- Don’t stress eat.
Don’t get mad at me for this one guys. I did this last semester and I started gaining weight. It freaked me out, so I stopped pretty quickly but I get it. When you are stressed you want to do something mindless and an added bonus, it tastes so good! But this is really going to hurt you in the long run. Just don’t do it. Take care of your self.
2. Find a creative/emotional outlet
Even if all you think you can do is sing mary had a little lamb or draw stick figures. If you can find something that you find enjoyable and that is some kind of emotional outlet for you, it is going to help you in so many ways!
For me playing piano and singing relieves stress. The concentration that it takes to play a faster or more emotion ridden piece helps to completely forget all of the other distractions that are in your mind. I promise that you will find some kind of peace even for a moment.
Draw, Paint, Sing, Play an Instrument, Write, Bullet Journal, Sculpt, Mold Pottery, anything! Find something for yourself. If you don’t believe me, look up studies about it because there are countless.
3. Find someone to listen to you that is not your parents or peers your age.
Now you say, why not those people? I know you love your parents, or maybe you don’t but there are some times that you just want to tell someone besides them. And that is okay. But one of your friends is probably not going to be very comforting. What are they going to tell you? That they have just as much stress and then you have a depressing conversation that ends in you almost guaranteed feeling worse? Don’t do that. Be real with each other but don’t do that to yourself all the time.
Instead, I propose finding someone that has been through this and can help you! Knowing that this person made it through and is still sane is so comforting! They can even give you some words of advice.
4. Exercise daily
This is something that I didn’t realize till the start of the year and it is a VERY REAL THING! I have been very active for most of my life with my horses, and when it is nice our family would walk around 3 miles every day for a little while, but last December, I kind of fell off of the bandwagon. My horses were on break, and I was not even walking a mile a day. It made me feel so terrible. There is no other word for it. Just terrible.
I kind of slowly started working out every day and then recently I have started to do yoga along with a some kind of workout almost every day and guys I am feeling so much better! I have a lot more motivation, and I feel happier. You really do not realize how much you need this until you do it.
And don’t give up after a month. Keep on the band wagon and help your brain out. It increases your brains ability to function. If you don’t believe me, search benefits of exercise. They even have videos if you don’t want to read.
5. Drink lots of water
This is another taking care of your body one. You should be drinking somewhere around eight cups of water or more.
Don’t slack off of this one. I see everyone walking around with your water bottles covered in stickers. You do not have an excuse. Drink your water!
6. Keep your schedule up to date
This is one that everyone thinks that only crazy organized people can do but that is not true!
It will give you such peace of mind to know when your deadlines are and what you can do to make sure that you do not have to wait til the last minute. That is only going to cause you more stress.
You can go to the dollar store, target, tj maxx, etc., and find a planner for a dollar. When you schedule a visit or audition or you have a huge deadline rapidly approaching, write it down in two seconds and you can make sure that you don’t miss it and that you can do everything in your power to crush it!
7. Go to bed at a reasonable time
Get your sleep!!!!!!!!!!! It is vital to your body and brain functioning correctly!!!!!!
8. Be open with how you are feeling
Do not — I repeat— DO NOT lie to yourself and the people around you!
I know. You cannot bear the thought of showing emotions. I get it! I really do! However, the faster that you can come to terms with how stressed or lonely or depressed or any number of feelings you are feeling, the less likely that you will come to a breaking point and lose your mind. Talk to that mentor that we mentioned earlier. Talk to your parents and friends about this one. You do not have to go through this process by yourself!
There is no way that with billions of people on this planet that you cannot find someone to talk to about what you are feeling. Even go see a therapist. Find someone and be open.
Well that is all that I have. That is the end of my tips but if you guys have any others that have helped you, let me know!
I know that we are all hoping and praying for a day when all of this will be easier, but until then we have to find a way to get through it with our sanity intact. I believe in all of us and I know that your community surrounding you will help you get through this!
Resources
Comm Equestrian 