Depression and anxiety are two common mental illnesses found in high schoolers that result from stress. Stress in teens can come from many sources, such as family problems, drama with friends and other students, jobs, sports, and especially from school work.
School work isn’t just one assignment, it is a collective pile of work given to each student every day from each class. Lily Vanpool (10), explains how she stresses about her academic work.
“[With school] work itself [I have] anxiety, stress, you know?” Vanpool said. ”Kind of like ‘Oh I have to get this done’ or ‘I might not be good enough for this’ or ‘I might fail this.’”
When it comes to school work, many students have a fear of failure and are worried about not meeting the expectations they are held to. This causes them to feel deeply overwhelmed and brings undesired stress, Mackenzie Neece (10) can relate to this.
“I do have a fear of failure,” Neece said. “I cannot afford to get a B in any of my classes, regardless of how easy or hard they may be.”
As a high school student, getting a bad grade makes many feel discouraged and upset, but Nia Readoux (10), has a mature way of thinking.
“I always think about it as I have time to get it up,” Readoux said. “But if it’s the end of the six weeks, I just have to accept it as it is. There was definitely a time where I would be freaking out if my final grade was not an A, but now I know that I am smart and I know that I try, and at the end of the day, I tried my best and that’s it.”
Students often feel overwhelmed from the workload that school and extracurriculars may provide. Vanpool describes how she relates to this.
“I’ve burned all of this energy by focusing on school, and getting to class, and making sure everything is okay,” Vanpool said. “It’s just kind of exhausting.”
Neece also feels overwhelmed from their day to day academic life.
“I’m always stressed about grades,” Neece said. “Very rarely is there ever a point when I am not, there are many times when I genuinely want to pass out from exhaustion, but I don’t because I need to keep working, no matter the cost.”
Many people are hardwired to have an inner critic that pushes them to do better, to be better, and this is displayed through the students of Heritage High School. However, sometimes it pushes people to have high and maybe even impossible standards.
“I hold myself up to higher standards because I want to be good at many things,” Readoux said. “I want to try many things, and I want to be the best at it. And I tend to hold myself to high standards that I cannot achieve. And I am aware of it, but it’s kinda hard to get rid of.”
On the other hand, others feel like they should only do the best they can. Vanpool speaks about this.
“[I wouldn’t say] high standards, but not necessarily low standards,” Vanpool said. “Just kind of do the best you can. But, definitely for some specific classes, there are some higher expectations.”
Although this inner critic may be stressful and irritating to most, it has the potential to make you succeed. Neece speaks about how she goes to great lengths to get good grades.
“Seeing an A on the assignment [makes it worth it],” Neece said. “I strive for academic validation, so I only do it for the feeling I get, receiving a good grade.”
Some days are more difficult than others, these students have their own ways of coping with their hard days.
“What gets me through the hard days is when I am done with it, [and] how proud I will be,” Readoux said. “It really shows how strong you are when you just keep pushing and that’s something that I really look forward to, is just knowing that I got through it, and how far I have come.”
One remedy that many recommend for dealing with stress is getting enough sleep, preferably eight hours a night. For some, this is easier said than done since homework dips into their time to sleep.
“There are some nights that I get only one hour, when some I get a solid five hours,” Neece said.
This isn’t uncommon, many students are kept up late from homework and other educational activities, while others may be up enjoying a break for themselves.
“I can’t remember the last time I got eight hours of sleep,”Readoux said, “I always get like five hours of sleep nowadays, but I am kind of accustomed to it because it’s kind of my routine now.”
Overall, it’s no surprise that high school can be stressful. Readoux shares tips to inspire the student body on regulating stress.
“Do your work at school,” Readoux said. “Let lunch be lunch, give yourself a brain break, don’t overwork yourself, and when you are at home get as much work done as you can. Just make sure you divide the work up so you don’t get too overwhelmed.”