Have you ever been stressed out of your mind or worked past your breaking point?
I know I have.
According to Globe NewsWire, approximately 45% of high school students feel stressed around the clock. As a current pre-IB student, I cannot imagine how hard it will get in the next few years, but I already know how difficult it is in just grade 9.
To the students and families approaching high school, such an institution may appear intimidating, but by remembering these tips, you'll be able to tackle the challenges ahead with no sweat.
1. Develop and refine your time management
For a good reason, teachers, parents, and the clock seem to have been calling for you to get a handle on time management since you've learned to read. Despite the constant urging from previous teachers, I have to admit that I did not listen (quite a grave mistake), but I found a balance that suited me. Instead of the same "do everything in advance," try finding your own in-between. Cramming the night before the exam is probably not a good idea; neither is doing absolutely nothing until the last minute. What I suggest is to find a happy medium that works for you.
For myself, I do my homework when I get home. This leaves time for my brain to rest and work on projects due later in the future.
2. Dealing with temptation
As humans, resisting temptation can be exceptionally challenging. As we get older, it becomes harder and harder to resist different temptations. An experiment in an article from PubMed Central shows that children younger than 5 years old are less likely to give in to temptations than children older than 5. If students start to give in to temptations at such a young age, then at an age that is much older than 5, giving in to temptations must be so much easier. With the current availability of technology, who wouldn’t?
I have trouble with temptations, especially with my mobile phone. I suggest putting your phone in any other room or setting your cell phone on silent/do not disturb. Another tip from becomingminimalist.com is to put a hair tie around your cell phone. The hair tie prevents typical use but allows you to pick up calls.
3. Friends, are they helping you or distracting you?
For myself, friends have been a touchy topic. I followed them to IB without knowing anything about the program itself. My most important piece of advice to all students is to not be afraid to be alone. Being terrified of loneliness is what pushed and motivated a lot of my choices.
Make new friends if you think your old ones are dragging you down. Never feel pressured to go along with your friends, especially if you think it is a bad idea. You are always permitted to help a friend if they miss a class. However, it does not benefit either you or your friend if you let them cheat or give them the answers. I'm sure you've heard that one before, but it's true.
If your friends want to hang out over the weekend, prioritize your work first. Unfortunately, friends don't always last forever, but knowledge will.
4. Stress vs sleep
As a teenager, especially a homework-loaded one, sleep can be an issue. When studying for tests, many people end up pulling all-nighters or only sleeping for a couple of hours. MedicalNewsToday's article on the relationship between stress and sleep states that "stress and sleep are closely linked." The article also mentions how stress can affect the quality of your sleep and how less sleep can increase how stressed you are.
If you are stressed and overwhelmed, take some time to unwind and get in touch with yourself again. When I'm stressed, I try to find things that distract me from the topics that overload my brain. It is fundamental to recognize the challenges you face and develop strategies for overcoming them as a student.
Although these are all familiar tips you've probably heard from adult figures in your life, there's a reason they give it to you. Knowledge gets passed down through generations, so take it from someone learning, and heed the words of those teaching you.
Edited by Riwa.
Good luck and best wishes for your future!
Writer introduction: The writer, Alyssa Yan is a grade 9 student at Milliken Mills High School. She is currently enrolled in the IB program and is almost done with her first year of pre-IB. Writing has always been a hobby and she hopes to develop her skills further so writing can play a heavier role in her life. She enjoys writing, which led her to write this blog and create books based on her own ideas!
Citations:
becker. “Cell Phone Addiction: 7 Proven Ways to Break Your Habit.” becomingminimalist.com, www.becomingminimalist.com/break-your-cell-phone-habit/.
Wang, Lamei, and Zhenlin Wang. “The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children’s Strategic Lie-Telling.” Journal of Visualized Experiments, no. 134, 6 Apr. 2018, 10.3791/57189. Accessed 21 Sept. 2019.
“Stress and Sleep: What’s the Link?” www.medicalnewstoday.com, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322994#reducing-stress.
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