The common belief about high school is that out of three choices- good grades, decent sleep, and a good social life- that you’ll only have time to maintain two. I learned through experience that this isn’t the right attitude to have when tackling your four years of high school. The one thing I wish someone had told me before I started high school was that eve though it’s important to try your best in school, you have to keep your priorities in order and maintain balance in all areas of your life.
- School
School is very important, but anything in access can be bad for you. Always make an effort to go to class and get good grades, but don’t compensate your health and sleep for good grades. Don’t take AP course subjects that you aren’t passionate about because not only will you be doing extra work of something you don’t enjoy, but you are taking significant time away from some other activity that you are interested in. Get involved in clubs and sports in school because those things are important in your application to colleges as well. Stress is proven to be damaging to a students self esteem, mood, sleep, and physical health; so, try your best, but don’t go overboard to the point of letting your grades take over all aspects of your life. Your report card doesn’t grade your life.
2. Sleep
Sleep is important because it’s vital to your physical and mental health. Sometimes you’ll have to sacrifice sleep for a certain project or test, but don’t make it a usual thing because not only will you get sick, but a lack of sleep means it’s easier to be overwhelmed by stress. It’s important to take care of yourself because getting sick means eventually missing school and having make up homework to deal with. I went through this cycle alot during my juniorr year; I would stay up late throughout the week to get all my schoolwork done and saacrifice sleep on the weekend to hangout with friends. Eventually I was getting sick constantly, missing school, and then getting sick again from sacrificing my sleep to get my make up homework done. Trust me, your health is vital not only to your mental health, but to your grades and learning abilities.
3. Social Life
Having friends is an important part of your highschool experience. This means don’t be afraid to get involved in outside activities and make plans on the weekend. You only get to enjoy the numerous things that Los Angeles has to offer during your four years of highschoool (unless you’re continuing college close by). It’s important not to compensate hoomework and studying for your friends though. This area of your highschool life is probably the hardest to prioritize because your grades ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR FRIENDS, but you don’t want to sacrifice your social life altogether for school, that’s not healthy. A good thing to do is if you have a test coming up, have one of your friends study with you one weekend so that you don’t feel like you’re missing out and aren’t tempted to dismiss studying altogether.
