By Lena Turcios
Senior year is not much different than the other years of High School but it can feel a lot more intense since there is more pressure put onto you to achieve certain expectations. Ranging from parents to teachers you are expected to live up to academic and personal standards. It can be really hard to balance schoolwork, social/ personal life, and especially mental health. In this article I will guide you through your senior year of high school or prepare you for it.
Firstly, make sure you take classes that you can envision yourself pursuing in the future and especially classes that you will enjoy! It is always good to challenge yourself academically but don’t choose a class that does not peak your interest or else you may regret taking it later on. Getting work done and making sure you are on top of the workload is always the main goal. This goal can be achieved by improving your time management skills and organizational skills.
A good tool that has helped me a lot is creating a short list of daily tasks. This can either be for school or for your personal life. If you are a person who gets overwhelmed by stress easily then this will help you a lot because it turns all your unorganized thoughts into a list of realistic goals. Another helpful and easy tool is using the reminders app on your phone. If there is something you keep forgetting to do, perhaps an assignment, then try setting multiple reminders for different times of the day. List the tasks from most to least important.
Time management skills are also very important to gain. It is important to be on time to your classes as much as you possibly can. Of course being late is not going to have a severe effect (besides a possible lunch detention) but it is good to have a habit of being on time for future instances, ex: Having a job interview, a job, or having responsibilities where it is crucial to be on time.
Planning ahead is also key to surviving your senior year of high school. With six periods a day it can feel like there’s a lot of work coming at you at once. When you begin to have tests then usually you will have one or two in the same week or even on the same days. This can be pretty stressful but this is when organization comes into play. Prioritize studying for the soonest test you have instead of trying to cram studying for both at the same time. It is always a good idea to get things done on time so you are not rushing at the last minute to be on time for assignments. I briefly touched on the topic of self care earlier but this is very important especially during school! Always prioritize your mental health first because in the long run it will benefit you more than you think.
I’m not going to lie, senior year can absolutely make anxiety worse just because it is the final year of high school. It creates this idea in your mind that you might need to have all A’s or get a good grade on every assignment. As long as you are eligible to graduate then grades do not matter too much, unless that is something that means a lot to you. Many seniors are trying to get into college as well so this is another added stress factor with grades too. It might mean a lot to you but in retrospect all that matters is if you put in the effort. As long as you are learning from your mistakes everyday then you shouldn’t completely obsess over your grades because nothing is going to be 100% perfect all the time, that is life.
The number one goal to get through senior year is this. Take care of yourself, mentally and physically. By this I mean do not surround yourself with people who are fake and don’t care at all about your wellbeing. It could be any person in your life, not just at school. I would recommend not hanging out with people who are drama-filled because this obviously can make you less focused on school and overall can be bad for your mental health.
Another valuable habit to practice is getting enough sleep. Let me repeat that this is very important because you can’t survive healthily by being groggy and tired all the time from lack of sleep. This is where you can use the reminders or clock app on your phone! Set alarms on your phone for a specific time you want to go to sleep, keep in mind “Alarms.” If you are a busy person and find it hard to wind down to sleep early then focus on doing things to make yourself tired throughout the day. You could go on a run, workout, skateboard/skate, dance or walk your dog.
From personal experience, I know how hard your senior year can be. And how it can sometimes feel like the end of the world when you get a bad grade on a test or have missing late work. Trust me, it is not the end of the world at all. You will make mistakes quite often and that’s completely fine, you should use your mistakes as fuel to do better the next time.
Overall, you should have fun during your senior year. Yes you will have to deal with bad experiences whether that is with a boss at a job, a teacher, or even just rude people you encounter. Regardless of all of this you should absolutely take the time to do things that you enjoy doing outside of school because it will end up benefiting your mental health.
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