By KADENCE VOEGE
Sheridan High School Student
Editor’s Note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
During your high school years, life gets chaotic, you might say. You’re trying to mature into the human you’re meant to be and figuring out what your calling is after you graduate. It gets overwhelming because you’re also trying to live in the moment as well.
You don’t want to grow up too fast, but you want to experience life, so you age yourself faster than usual. You’re trying to have relationships outside of school and do fun things with your friends.
You want to get good grades in school, and some might say it gets easier by grade, but others say it gets harder. It’s truly only for you to decide. Most plan to go to college, but don’t exactly know what they want to do, so they spend weeks researching.
A lot of people play sports. Sports or any after-school activity is something you want to at least try to get into. Sports aren’t for everyone, but most likely there is an after-school activity for you. It helps create relationships with people you probably never thought you’d even say a word to. It helps you be a team player and trust other people, have patience, work hard at everything you do, set goals for yourself and your team, and achieve those goals.
With that comes late nights, early mornings, blood, sweat, tears, happiness, laughter, bonds being made, and memories to cherish forever. It teaches you to work hard for what you want and to be a better human.
With that being said, it is time-consuming: Some mornings you have weights before school to make you stronger and get shots up, so in games the ball goes in the basket to win. You wake up tired not wanting to go, but it makes you mentally stronger, and by the time school is over, you’re ready to just go home and lie in bed, but you have a two-and-a-half-hour practice. You have to be all there at practice to make you better and win games, but some days you’re physically exhausted and get stressed about the homework that is due or the studying that needs to be done.
This is where time management comes in.
It’s a long five-ish months that you have to put your all in and be physically, mentally, and emotionally strong for the better and dedicated to make yourself and the team better. You will look back and be like, “Wow! A lot of my life lessons have been taught from this sport or this after school activity.” I have caught myself doing that already.
Balance is key to everything. Find time for yourself most importantly; don’t lose yourself in the midst of sports or an after-school activity because you don’t have time for yourself or to regroup.
Find time for your friends who are trying to make plans with you. Find the time to say yes as much as possible, to keep building your friendships and living your teenage years!
Make sure you’re catching up with your family at dinner time or while you’re eating breakfast in the morning. You don’t want to feel like you’re drifting from them and living with strangers that love you so deeply and want to see you succeed.
Balance everything in your life that you prioritize while doing what you’re passionate about.