As the second semester continues without a break for the students, it is more evident than ever that they are approaching the pinnacle. With AP exams looming in two months, there is no time to fit in anything from sports to extracurriculars. While cramming everything into their already bursting schedules is vital, it is even more critical for students to avoid burnout.
The word seems to hover over our heads, but we always think we are one step ahead of it. It creeps onto us and latches deep inside. According to a press release from the United Nations, burnout affects many people and has heightened since the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in women and youth. Another article published by the National Library of Medicine found that 11.4% of students experienced significant burnout in 2022 compared to 3.8% in 2014. Burnout is around the corner for more and more people, and it seems complicated to stop working a lot of the time.
As students enter high school, many set high goals for themselves: “I need to get into a good college” or “I need to surpass my peers.” In truth, it is essential to set high goals and try to accomplish as much as possible in these short 4 years, but as Hilary Xu (11) highlights, “We strive tirelessly to be the best in the crowd; ironically, we fail at being the best to our health.” It is an incredibly competitive crowd of peers today; it seems today that to get into a top 20 college, someone needs to cure cancer or solve global hunger, leading to students tirelessly trying to stand out in a crowd of competitors they have made up. In truth, someone’s health matters more than all the awards they can rack up on their walls, but needlessly chasing perfection will achieve nothing, making them burn out instead.
Balancing APs, extracurriculars, and social life in my academic journey has never been easy. There have been nights when I contemplated dropping all my “hard” classes and just riding out the rest of my high school years. I felt utterly removed from learning and instead chased needlessly after a letter on a piece of paper. There have been many days when I have to turn down hanging out with friends to work on an essay instead, and there have been even more days when I felt stuck in my mind, unable to let go of one bad test score.
It was not until I reconnected with learning for myself–pursuing knowledge instead of the tests that come with it. Founder of TEAM (Teens for Education and Advocacy on Misophonia), Sophie Yang, thinks that “you can’t pour from an empty mug, you have to take care of yourself first.” Students need to put themselves before the tests and schoolwork because it is not easy–we need to admit it is hard being a teenager in the 21st century–that we deserve a break.
