“Tomorrow, folks, we will take our 65-multiple-choice-question-and-5-free- response-question final for this class. But, don’t forget, your Unit 9 Pogil is also due tomorrow and your DNA Building Simulation on Monday and a recorded video on your Amino Acid Roles presentation is due Tuesday.”
I exited class that Thursday wanting to hide underneath the big boulder on the side of the street across the school and never come out. I felt like the girl in the picture above.
I get home at 7:30 pm everyday, after a long day of school and classes and then sports and clubs. By the time I eat, shower, and do my chores, it’s about 9 pm. I do the minimal homework and studying for all 7 classes and then hit bed at around midnight. I wake up at 5 am and then repeat it all over again.
On that particular Thursday, sitting in AP Bio, I wanted to scream at my teacher after the list she just blurted out at us. “Lady, do you not know how little sleep I’m running on right now?!! It’s all because of the projects and assignments you keep piling on us!!!”
We could learn the exact same content without proving it in 700 different ways. I don’t need to take an hour long test on protein synthesis, then show a demonstration in a recorded video, then give a presentation to my class on it, and then submit an essay about how amino acids are the building blocks of proteins! Just knowing how much I need to do makes me feel like I can’t do anything! And when I’m stressed, I can’t focus or learn….
Here’s the thing, though: the education system is unlikely to change. The workload will always be unnecessarily overwhelming. You have two choices: give into the pressure, remain unmotivated, resentful, and bitter, or use the assignments and projects to showcase your knowledge, expand on it, and eventually master the subject. Afterall, isn’t that the point of education?
The question is: how? How do you remain mentally stable like that when you can’t even remember the “to-do list” from just one class? How do you not fall behind or do lousy work when there is sooo much work to be done?
- Know Your Motive
This is keyyyy. I cannot enforce how important this is. I have a friend who wants to go to medical school and eventually become an OBGYN. We were once talking about what significance the French and Indian War had on America’s Independence from Great Britain and my friend, who took AP U.S. History just a year before I did, was left dumbfounded at the question. The discussion totally fell and she grew agitated.
She quickly said, “Am I gonna need that when I dissect a cow in medical school? You take the class, study your butt off, take the exam, pass it. And then forget it when your brain dumps out the info because it needs it for AP Chem senior year. Woohoo.”
I’m stating verbatim what she said as I’m reading the texts from our conversation. It is clear to me that so many students feel this way. You feel that most of the knowledge you consume is pointless and will be useless. This, my friend, is the mentality that stresses you out, not the workload.
Your mindset about learning is what’s actually hindering you. If you do the work out of genuine interest and love, the pain becomes irrelevant and much more tolerable.
That’s where knowing your motive comes in: I want to be a successful student not for any title or recognition or future career. I am just endlessly curious about each subject and I want to acquire all the knowledge I can get my hands on. Why? Because you want to be a wise, rich character. Not some basic person who only knows how to perform their job and then go home and not contribute anything of value to the world. Unless your motive is the latter, you should read on.
I know this is not practical advice, not a step-by-step instruction manual or something you could actually see, but not knowing your motive is like being a pilot who doesn’t know his destination.
That means you gotta plan it all out and know exactly what you’re going to do each day and WHY you are going to do it. When you know exactly WHY you do what you do, you will do it happily and passionately because your motivation is stronger and deeper than surface level goals.
I don’t think anybody will ever care what grade they got in high school English when they’re lying on their deathbed. You will only care about what type of person you were to yourself and to the world. Were you a loving family member? Were you kind to strangers? Were you diligent, resilient, and hard working? Were you wise in your choices and your opportunities? Did you deal well the cards that were given to you; did you live your life as best as your life could’ve been lived? I don’t think anyone would care about WHAT they did as much as WHO they were.
When you’re going through your day to day life, it is of utmost importance that you consider and ponder these things. I know that you’re just a high school or college student and you think you have plenty of time to “enjoy life” before you get to this point.
But, do you really? Not to sound sadistic, but nobody really knows when their life will be over. Also, it always seems like you have a lot of time when you’re young. Until you’re not. Then, you realize how little of it you have. So, be smart. Live your day to day under those considerations. Complete your essays and quizzes and softball practices with an awareness of WHY you’re doing them.
That awareness gives meaning to the “have-to-dos.” It makes you do them with greater passion and joy. The task itself bears great meaning to you, aside from the material results it might render.
2. Take Frequent Breaks
You want to do it all. You want to be it all. I know. You jump from one activity to the next like some crazy squirrel on the branches of a tree. You don’t know that it will kill you. If not physically, then mentally.
The amount of energy that kind of lifestyle requires is astronomical. It saps the life out of our days. My Lord, the amount of tasks and activities on most people’s agendas these days is extremely toxic! We don’t know how to sit still and just BE.
It’s scary and mentally depleting because you’re constantly getting confirmation of your self-worth from your environment. But, fear not, you don’t need to live that way.
Yes, there is a solution, but you have to do it intentionally every single day. Are you ready?
What you need to do (and what every person must do, really) is find an activity or hobby that makes you really happy and do it everyday. Before you leave your house every morning dedicate at least 20 minutes to doing that task. Lose yourself in it.
Allow yourself to do something that doesn’t help your goals in anyway but just makes you happy. Do that thing because you love it and because it’s a part of who you are not because it is a means to an end that you think will make you happy.
It’s a celebration of your individuality, a little party hosted every day to appreciate your uniqueness. Just wake up 20-30 minutes earlier everyday to do that thing and you’ll be much more peaceful and mentally stable for the rest of the day.
I am a coffee addict. I love coffee like nobody will ever understand. I try to limit myself to just one cup a day, but when I do have that one cup, I make a ceremony out of it. When it’s brewing in the little machine, I go to the backyard, light some candles and put on some chill acoustic music with a blanket or comfy sweater. I then grab my coffee and watch the sunrise as I sip.
You think that’s 20 minutes wasted every single day? I think not. I think it’s an investment in my mental health; an investment in my levels of passion and peace of mind that will give me immense returns throughout my day and later on in my life. I think it’s a deliberate practice, that maybe takes time and effort, but will protect me from being overwhelmed or depressed or lack joy in my ordinary life.
The time that I “waste” doing these activities helps me from actually wasting more time later when I’m not motivated to do work, when I’m burned out, and when I’m having dramatic migraines from the excess exertion.
It’s tough work to figure out who you are and what you love to do for the sake of the task itself not for any returns. It requires a lot of self knowledge and self exploration. You might be into hiking, gaming, playing the violin, or singing. Whatever it is that sets your heart on fire and sets your mind on peace, do that thing. If it is doing nothing at all, then by all means, do nothing at all.
The goal is to not give you one more thing that you have to do. It is to implore you to stop the “doing.” If you want to space out for 20 minutes or listen to a few R&B songs in your bed, then that’s what you must do.
The point is to go with what your inner self is telling you and not try to enforce some kind of rule or push yourself to do yet another task. It should come naturally and if it doesn’t, then you have not found the right thing for YOU.
Not everyone is into the “sober-early morning coffee-reflective” mood. That’s okay. Find what floats YOUR boat. When you find it, make sure that you consistently do it. Eat chocolate cake or go on a long walk. Whatever YOU want.
Setting apart time to do what makes you happy and celebrating your individuality will only increase that notion of a deeper motive that we discussed earlier. Motivation will skyrocket because 1) you have authentic reasons for doing things that mean a lot to you (way more than grades and money) and 2) because you are rested on the inside upon facing overwhelming situations.