Balancing academic work with personal life can be overwhelming in high school. This is a time of significant change, and it’s normal to feel like you’re constantly adapting to new demands.
It may be a first thought to take after school since that’s one’s key to their future. However, many need to realize the drawbacks of such behavior.
It’s common for students to prioritize long-term goals over their immediate needs, including self-care. While this may seem like a well-adjusted approach, it often leads to burnout and negatively impacts your education. This causes them to lose time in school spent on other activities and be unable to accomplish more. Self-care is often neglected in high school. Like burnout, most who neglect self-care focus on the long rather than the short-term. They are often caught in the grind of working for their studies, most notably during sophomore and junior years, when school for those prepared becomes more tense. As a result, it may be hard to find time for other activities, self-care being the most noticeable of all activities.
Neglecting self-care can have serious consequences for your health, leading not only to a lack of confidence in your appearance but also to inevitable burnout. This can leave you feeling isolated and finding work as one of the few remaining pleasures in life. While staying on task is beneficial, taking time for oneself is just as vital. However, it is notable to mention the other end of the spectrum.
Many students face procrastination daily, which may lead to further stress already given to high schoolers. While some may finish at the last minute, others are blinded by technology, thinking that this will be the last time. The allure of technology can often distract from the guilt of unfinished work, leading to neglect in studies, poor grades, and a lack of self-care. Social media and other digital distractions can also significantly impact time management. Social media is entertainment, and people may spend hours replaying similar activities consistently. However, technology can be used to help students with work, making arrangements in their planner and other checklists. Technology further assists students by providing suggestions and feedback for their following directives.
“By making the most of it, whether it’s hanging out with friends or having fun. On some parts, yes, but the abundance of work does get tiring sometimes but I’ll persevere. Technology has caused a bit of a distraction on my focus that could be put to more productive things.” Emily Sofia, a freshman, says of her relationship with technology and her work-life balance,” David Cruz, a junior.
Maintaining such a balance is critical to thanking oneself today and tomorrow. Planning, action, and time management are key for this.
Planning should take a few minutes of one’s day, at most one hour, before initiating work. Most need to remember to do their job, while others are stuck planning, so it’s good to lay down the groundwork; knowing when to start is wise. It’s not easy to take that next step, but it may help to know between one’s goal vs. one’s word, which genuinely matters to them whether they admit it. Once done, action will take a while to develop, but like any skill, it can be built in time. Time flows fast, so knowing how much time one spends on an assignment, service hour event, or outing with loved ones is critical to knowing when to begin work. It may be hard to switch between assignments, especially with the wide range given to students, but it is also important not to be a perfectionist. Try to do your best with the time given rather than make it perfect.
Some students may agree that such principles are fundamental, while others have their methods. Students say how they present and represent themselves with their time.
David Cruz, junior, had a different idea of his relationship with technology, “Well, time for me is nothing but relative. I’m always gonna go at my own pace rather than at the world’s because at my pace I know I can keep up at the world’s pace. I think I try to gravitate towards more of my lifestyle and the sense of being free and doing the things I wanna do to not feel trapped and you know and like one-sided so I tried to always make sure that I’m always doing something new or trying something new so with that I always have to make time to get good at those things or try them”.
It’s crucial to find methods that work for you. Whether they align with the suggestions provided or not, understanding the concept of work-life balance in high school is key, especially when the pressure to focus on work is so intense.
But knowing when to focus and care for oneself and goals matters is vital. Otherwise, they may sink into their worst tendencies and fall into an unhealthy abyss. But if given the chance and proper time, many might find there may be other ways of living for the best of them possible.
