Growing up in this unprecedented time has thrown multiple scenarios in to my life that I could never had imagine being dealt with. Because of this, I can say that this has been easily the most stressful year of my life. More specifically, school year. School, mixed with work, mixed with the expectations put on teenagers, all results in high and unnecessary stress levels.
Going into high school, everyone always talks about the important junior year. You always hear "make junior year count" and "colleges are looking at your junior year!". The difference is, no other class has spent their entire junior year attending school twice a week, or not at all, yet somehow we are still expected to meet the same levels of success as students of the past. In my case, this mainly applies to my AP classes. It is very hard for me to retain information in classes that I have once a week, mainly AP Calculus. Although I am doing fine in these classes, there is always that thought of what if. What if I got the correct amount of instruction. What if I had that class for more than 75 minutes per week. What if I got the same opportunities and chances to succeed as students prior.
I can't blame all of my stress this year on school. I work two jobs. One at Action Karate Nazareth, and another at Alpha Pizza and Subs in New Jersey. Some may say why don't you just quit one of your jobs, but I also know that no one understands my connection to these two establishments. I have been doing karate since I was three years old. My mom has been working at the restaurant on and off since I was two years old. I have basically grew up at these two places, making it not just another job. The people at karate are like my second family, while I used to go on vacation with my bosses at the restaurant, so I consider them as my actual family. Even if I wanted to quit one of the jobs, I would feel as if I would be letting down family members that have done so much for me. With that being said, I work a combined 25 hours every week. Managing this and school work, I often find myself staying up late hours of the night to complete what needs to be done.
I will say that I have learned valuable lessons during this period of my life. For example, I have never been better at my time management. I usually have my assignments completed in advance because of my unpredictable schedule. I am hoping that I can take this with me once the world starts to go back to how it was before, whenever that may occur.
Overall, working and school has caused me so much stress during this experimental time period, however I am thankful for the lessons that I have learned and that I will take with me for the rest of my life.
My coping mechanism
Michael our blog posts are so alike, I did not even realize. I promise I did not steal your idea lol. Seriously though, the fact that a lot of us students have been writing about how stress we are just shows that we are not alone. We are all under so much pressure. I am so glad to hear that through this immense pressure you have learned some valuable lessons! Ari looks so pretty in that picture.
ReplyDeleteI have also had a hard time learning and understanding the material for several classes. Not being in person has really taken a toll on me. The thought of what this school year would be like if it were a "normal" year always crosses my mind. A lot of other students have been blogging about the stress they've been having, and it is very comforting to know I am not alone in the way I feel. I have definitely had my challenges with school this year, but like you said, I am glad to experience it. It has taught me so many great life lessons.
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