As Grand Ledge High School’s first trimester comes to an end, an increase in mental health challenges among the students has occurred. Students of all grade levels have been struggling with balancing school life and outside life, while this may not apply to all students, it has been the most prevalent in students in 11th and 12th grade.
With fall sports, homecoming, PSAT’s and college applications, there have been a number of stressors for students. It is common for students to feel overwhelmed to do things as school can be such a big part of their lives.
“School puts a lot of stress on my life and is a main component of how I am everyday and I think it’s definitely influential to who I am as a person and it is the biggest part of my life right now,” junior Hayley Thomas said.
Learning how to balance everything is a hard task for all grade levels, but it can be especially troubling for the underclassmen who are still adjusting to high school.
“Trying to balance everything makes me feel stressed out and most of the time it gets to be too much for me,” sophomore Kimberly Xiong said.
As students are preparing for exams at the end of the first trimester, there is a noticeable rise in stress levels. Many students are exhausted with homework and trying to bring up their grades. Not only that, but there are those who set high academic goals and are wearing themselves out trying to meet them. Finding the good in between can be challenging since everyone is different.
Those who are struggling with finding equal footing between school and home will often try to do too many things at once, leading them to get burnt out in the process.
“You have to take things one step at a time and one thing you don’t want to try is multitasking too many things at once,” senior Alyssa Leisenring said.
Finding ways to handle this stress can be taxing because there is so much going on, in turn, students don’t realize the huge amount of damage they are doing to their mental health. The combination of pressure and anxiety leaves students mentally exhausted, ensuing an academic burnout.
One thing that could help students is getting advice from peers and how they handle things. This could help spark students into finding their own ways of balance.
“I think one of the best ways to handle your stress is to not compare yourself to other people because comparison is the thief of joy, ” junior Hayley Thomas said. She then continues on by expressing how perfectionism is not the root of happiness, “It’s okay to not do your best every single time because you are human and you can’t be perfect.”
