We’re all tired of hearing, “High school is the best time of your life.” If this is true, why doesn’t it feel like it? High school is where we begin to mature and understand ourselves better. We should be spending this time discovering what we love, exploring our interests, and growing as individuals, but we aren’t, and here’s why

 

In high school, we’re expected to juggle  classes, assignments, tests, homework, extracurriculars, and our social lives, all while being told we need to figure out what we want to do in the future. Where do we find time for enjoyment, for wonder? We have all fallen victim to this cycle of exhaustion. We look around and see everybody else running, so why wouldn’t we run too? 

            

            We’re constantly running, counting the days until the weekend. This vicious cycle of busyness is what’s blocking us from enjoying high school. So, how do we slow down? After interviewing 40 seniors and 25 university students I might just have the answer. It's our own minds that hold us back. We can tell ourselves we’re running for other people, but in reality, our own expectations for ourselves are higher than anyone else’s.

 

About 98% of the seniors and university students admitted that they stressed themselves out. With the way society has structured high school, there’s a lot of academic pressure. One of the biggest sources of stress is grades. That’s what we’re all working towards, that good grade. 82.5% of seniors admitted that if they scored below a 90-95% they would be disappointed in themselves.

 

When asked if they enjoyed high school, a lot of them thought for a moment before answering. The majority of the high school students said they did not enjoy their experience, only parts of it. They admitted that their friends were the saving grace of high school. But the stress blocked them from enjoying it. Even when they find time to themselves, they can’t enjoy it as there’s a deadline or a test coming up. 

 

Listening to their answers made me realize something: we don’t feel like it’s possible to enjoy high school. Every day is filled with another assignment or test. When we stop to enjoy ourselves, we feel like we’re doing something wrong. The seniors I talked to told me that high school felt very monotonous. They constantly went from one deadline to the next. They said that if they could go back, they would tell themselves it was okay, everything will be fine.

 

            Reading all of this might not make us exactly excited for the rest of high school, but our experience doesn’t have to be like this. Nobody is forcing this upon us. We can slow down, we just need to remind ourselves that it’ll all be okay.

 

             The university students I interviewed had a different view on high school. They told me that looking back they enjoyed it, but at the moment they didn’t. They all told me they wished they just stopped to take it all in. In their words, “If I could go back, I would try to live in the moment more. Grades are important, but it’s never that deep.” 

 

             It’s never that deep. That’s the thing I took away from all my interviews with university students. High school isn’t just about the grade or the university you get into at the end; it’s about you. Everybody has their own experience and it’s up to you to shape that experience into your own. You can keep running like everybody else, or step to the side and carve your own path. 

 

             The tests and the deadlines will always be there, but so will the enjoyment we could have if we just paused for a moment. Taking a break or going out with your friends won’t kill you. Millions of people have gotten through high school and so will we. We just need to remember to enjoy it.

 

              We don’t need to have everything figured out or our whole life planned out yet. We don’t need perfect grades to be happy or to justify taking a break. One day, when you’re older, you’ll look back and you won’t remember the good grades or the tests. You’ll remember the enjoyment that you allowed yourself to have. Don’t let yourself look back to so little or nothing at all. Don’t block yourself from happiness. We’re not too busy to enjoy high school, we’re just not letting ourselves enjoy it.