Have you ever been so panicked and stressed out that you felt certain things just weren’t worth doing or you’d break down? Yeah I’ll guess most people said the same answer I did. Yes. I just finished what I want to say was probably the most stressful year of my life, and now that school is over I wanna talk about it.

Let’s start about where stress kinda stems from. Because while I credit most of my stress to school, it would have been a whole lot less stressful if school was the only thing on my plate. From Healthline, stress triggers a fight or flight response, that settles after an event occurs. Stress isn’t always bad, but because of the circumstances it happens under we usually see it as a bad thing. I’ve noticed stress from the workload and pressures of doing well in school, but i’ve stressed heavily about time because of everything else that goes on. School itself is fine, but factoring work and competitive gymnastics, there aren’t always enough hours in a day.

Once stress comes on, it often gets worse before it gets better, like a lot of things. We tend to stress ourselves out even more before trying to find the root of the problem. One example of what I did was say “well, no school work is getting done today but I’ve got time.” And then I would do it the next day, and the next, and in the end I regretted that state of mind quite a bit to say the least. Sometimes picking yourself up and finding out why your so stressed gives you a sense of calmness, just simply knowing why you’re freaking out.

But eventually, stress goes away. It can take a long time, or no time at all. I was stressed the other day because I had a library book I forgot to read and needed to return it the day after I saw it staring at me on my dresser. So of course, I felt the need to read the ENTIRE book that day. Some people do that on the usual anyway, but not me. I’m slow. So, I stressed myself out and read the book. Book stress only lasted a day. School stress however, lasted several months, and it hasn’t even hit me yet that I don’t have any homework to do tonight.

Now that I don’t have bigger stressors to worry about, there’s so much more I can do, and the change in rhythm is so necessary. I’ve been making slippers to sell, been reading a lot more, going for walks, being with friends, and just enjoying myself more. I think I had a lot of enjoyment during the school year with gymnastics and everything, but I could be living in the Caribbean and I’d eventually need change. So while my stress has shifted, I can bear with it a lot better because it’s different and pressure to do anything hasn’t cracked down yet.

Everyone deals with stress, but like I said, we get through it. Just remember that. No matter how long things take, change always happens one way or another. Hopefully summer has offered a change of pace for everyone and has brought stress relief with it. Thanks for reading!