Students every year have the same problem: taking on more than they can handle. You try to handle school, work, family, friends, and extracurricular activities. You try to make yourselves ubiquitous and do everything at once, but there isn’t enough time. Make sure there is enough time for you. This doesn’t mean being remote, make sure there is time to relax. You don’t want to end up in excruciating pain because there isn’t enough time to sleep, and you’re running on 5 hours of sleep. Sleep is important for teens, so if there is a night where a lot is going on, skip a few math problems, and sleep. With the lack of sleep that’s going to affect you the next day, it’s more important than the few math problems. You need a respite in order to function properly, and without this interval of rest you won’t act properly.

You also need to realize your priorities. Knowing your priorities will help with making decisions. There is a game Friday night, but you have lots of homework and family parties all weekend. Your friends are saying that it’s the biggest game of the season and you can’t miss it. With your priorities set straight, you know homework needs to be done Friday. Even with all of the peer pressure from your friends, you need to be able to thwart them off. Homework is a harbinger of success. This means that if you do your homework then you are going to perform better on the test. In other words, your test scores will reverberate from your homework. This doesn’t mean that every Friday you need to stay home and do homework. It means, make sure to manage your time.

These things make some of you fretful, but don’t worry; it will come naturally to you. Just remember not to make anything a malignant force. Don’t focus on one thing. You will learn that if you do and make a mistake it will cause a lot of stress. So by focusing on multiple, it won’t be as stressful. Remember not to succumb to peer pressure. You know that schoolwork is more important than event with friends, to try to resist pressure. And don’t stress over everything. So if the stress gets to you, make sure to relax and take a breather. It’s more important to stay calm and relaxed than stressing. Hope your years at Arrowhead High School are stress free.