What, in fact, is a, quote, ‘super schedule,’ you might be wondering. Well, if you don’t know, you’re one of the lucky ones. But you’ll get there within a year or two.

Growing up doesn’t come soon enough, some would say. Sure, dying to utterly exist sounds ideal. Now you might be saying, I skipped way too many chapters to jump to that conclusion. And I’d say, I wish you were right.  

High School is a wonderful experience for youth, the worst thing to fret is finishing your homework, passing a test, making the varsity team, the list perpetuates. But, junior year is where you lose more sleep than you ever thought possible.

Here’s your schedule: wake up at 5:30 am, shower and dress, drive to school for 7:00, have all four of your honors/AP classes, get out at 1:55 pm, hustle to dress for practice at 2:15, get out at 4:15, hustle and dress for work (which the shift starts at 4 o’clock but you’re accepted late), close at 9:30 pm, drive home, finish your homework, get ready for bed, sleep at 11 pm. Reset- wake up at 5:30 am.

I lied, this is my schedule.

This isn’t the everyday routine. Some days you have a club before school, some days you have sport’s games and don’t have work. The most appreciative days are when you only have practice. But don’t forget all of your homework for tomorrow’s classes. Nonetheless, you are exhausted- physically, mentally, and emotionally. Yep, and try having relationships on top of that. 

Not only are you, “go, go, go,” for yourself, school, and sports, you’re also going for your parents, siblings, friends, and significant others. Oh, I’ve completed everything, what’s that? You want to spend time with me? I have to try to make room for you while fitting all of my necessities in? Oh, and I have to pick up my brother at 9:30 at night because his practice got out late? Wait, when was the last time I used the bathroom?

Now don’t get me wrong. I love the people around me and I appreciate everything they do for me. But it’s never a bad thing to put yourself first sometimes. If you really circulate around good beings, they’d support you and try to spend time with you- when your schedules align.

Continuing with agony, you barely have time to do anything for you. Your laundry basket is full of clean clothes from last week, with a pile of dirty clothes on the floor. You have chores to do from your family making a mess. 

Today, you wore jeans that smell like day-old bread from work, and stiff socks from yesterday’s practice when it rained. You fell asleep in Caouette’s class because you’re collectively discussing “The Ideal Democracy.”

You might be thinking, why choose to take AP classes, participate in a sport, and work simultaneously? Well, back to my original claim, dying to utterly exist is definitely ideal. If you can’t read between lines, that was sarcasm.

That phrase was completely hyperbolic, but true enough. Think of it this way, we go to school to work, we work for money, money is used to travel to work and eat, we also pay for a space to live, for water, clothes, heat, and extras. To need, is to pay. To want, is to pay. To live, is to pay. 

Now that I’m of working age and have the ability to drive a car, money is an essential. School is also an essential, the sports and clubs could hold off, but wait. Sports and clubs look fantastic on college applications. Everything in your highschool career is to prepare for your future, and that deems competition- but that’s another discussion. 

All of this sounds antagonizing, and I don’t mean to discourage you. Participate in what you want to! Whether it be the class, club, sport, job, friendship, etc. Be who you want to be. Don’t let time bother you, use it, it’s never gonna leave. High School is all about your experience, I may be venting about it, but I’m just your above-average, exhausted student. 

One day you might look back and say, “wow, those days I really had it simple, I wish I could go back,” and maybe you’d be right. In the now, you might be overwhelmed, but future you might appreciate you for working so hard.