Ever since I was a freshman, teachers and upperclassmen have haunted me with the idea of junior year being the worst year of high school. I did not want to believe them, so I ignored it. I acted like junior year was so far away, so I forced myself not to think about it. Eventually, it all came hitting me at once. With all the advanced placement and dual credit classes being thrown in my face, I felt like I had to take them. Then, on top of that, I have all these extracurricular activities involving school and outside of school, also worrying if I am going to get a decent score on my SATs. There is that pressure of not knowing where I am going to go to college or what I am going to do with the rest of my life. These are just the few things juniors have to encounter and be reminded of on the daily. According to everyday.com, junior year was credited as the most difficult and important year of one’s high school career. First semester is coming to an end, and junior year has already been living up to the expectation people have put it to so far.
The first few weeks of junior year were rough, and I did not know how I was going to manage it all: the countless hours studying for that U.S. History test or finishing that eight-page essay in Advanced Composition. Those are things that built my work ethic as a student, and as much as I wanted to give up, I knew I could not. Many juniors can agree that there is never really any down time. There is always a quiz or a test to be studying for. Soon enough I realized I had to ask for help. Whether it was from my friends, teachers or parents, I learned that I could not do it all on my own. People who were close to me made me realize that giving it my all in everything I do can take up a lot of my energy and impact my self esteem. Once I came to terms that I am going to mess up and that I can not be in control of every little thing, I felt like I had more room to truly enjoy my junior year.
Recently, I have caught myself wishing I could skip a certain phase of my life. Whether that is saying, “I can’t wait to be done with the semester,” or “I wish it was Christmas Break already.” These are normal things that everyone says, but someone made me realize that once you start wishing the little things away, you forget to fully thrive in the moments you are living in right now. As teenagers we get so wrapped up in what is going to happen in our future that we do not realize what is happening right in front of us.
So far junior year has had its challenges, but I had to realize what doesn’t have challenges? Nothing is going to be easy. The most rewarding things are what you work the hardest for. Being only 17 years old, it is frightening to think that soon I am going to have to make decisions that are not only going to shape my future but also who I am as a person.
