“It’s only the beginning of senior year and it has already been quite stressful. On top of all of my school work, I’m in volleyball season. It’s been very hard balancing college applications, senior year IB program, and volleyball games and practices. I always heard about this first quarter being the most stressful for seniors, but I never imagined for it to be like this. I feel like I’m managing it pretty well for doing so much after school. Teachers are piling a lot of work and I have many other things to be working on.

Right now, I’m just trying to mainly focus on my college applications because I feel like it’s one of the most important things, but schoolwork is also very important. This makes it difficult for me to find a balance between the two but I’m working on it and trying to get as much stuff done on the weekends and any free time I have. What I like to do to deal with stress is attempting to finish all my work during breaks, the weekend, or any free period. It’s so important to take time and relax at home to get work done during the weekend so that throughout the week I’m not as stressed. Even if it’s hard for some people, spending time away from your phone and hanging around your family, helps you relieve stress. I always think the sooner I finish an assignment, the less pressure I have on myself for later.

Taking advantage of your free time is for sure a big help. Using my Directed Studies time to get my college applications done has been a major stress reliever for me. The time I have in between classes and my volleyball practices is the time where I try to get the most done. Being productive is so important. I tend to be a big procrastinator, which leads to more stress, but I’ve been working on that with using my free time wisely. With my Volleyball practices and games ending late, free time before is a priority for me. There are days where the stress levels can and have gotten the best of me. It’s happened before when teachers are assigning work and scheduling test days, while I have volleyball and college applications to manage.

As much as I try to do most of my homework throughout the day, realistically, I don’t have much time. There’s been moments where I get home super late from a Volleyball game, and I start to freak out because I have assignments due and I have to wake up early for Early Bird. In these situations, stress and my emotions take over me. It’s hard to get anything done when you aren’t in the proper mindset emotionally and are very anxious. When I don’t take advantage of the time when I should, stress tends to always get the best of me. Although I deal with it pretty well, there are some days where it does get out of control. I just like to take a step back, relax, and use my time wisely.”