As a senior in high school, motivation is hard to find. One of the hardest things to do right now is focusing on all of my upcoming assignments and study material when all I want to do is sleep (and scroll through tik tok, let’s be honest). It’s worse when you feel like all of your effort isn’t paying off towards your future. It would take a novel to list the amount of times I have laid in my room at night and considered dropping out of school in favor of working in the fast food industry (which if that’s what you want to do, live your life, sweety! There’s no shame!), only because I felt like my efforts were going towards nothing. And I’ll be perfectly honest-- I COMPLETELY forgot that I had to write an article until this morning! Between school and home life and work and college plans, sometimes we seniors just need a little pick-me-up.
Here is a small, make-shift list on how to fight senioritis:
1.PRIORITIZE
Let’s be honest, not every assignment or event is important. To prevent from overwhelming yourself, rank all of your needs from most important to “meh, this can wait”. For example, my priority list is 1) SAT practice, 2) File FASFA, 3) Study for upcoming tests, 4) Practice ACTAA events, 5) Duolingo, 6) Start taking care of my mental health.
Try to prioritize assignments and events that are closer in deadline date, do not pile too many things on top of yourself just because you want to seem productive.
2.KEEP A JOURNAL/PLANNER/CALENDAR
In the midst of all this chaos, it is nice to have some order. I personally keep a journal to spill all of my thoughts and troubles without the added judgement of others. One of my friends keeps a neat planner because it helps calm her mind and keep up with due dates. And everyone should (if possible) have some sort of calendar to help with organization and prioritizing responsibilities. Also, it is the most satisfying feeling to cross out a box after a day goes by!
Organization can give relief to your hard working brain and make the next day more tolerable.
3.SLEEP
Need I say more? Referring back to the prioritizing subject-- some things are NOT worth staying up all night for. Go to bed queens and kings and royalty, you deserve it!
4.REMEMBER YOU’RE WORTH MORE THAN YOU THINK
Your test scores do not define you. Your grades do not define you. Your performance or debate rank does not define you. Your class rank does not define you. The only thing that defines you is how you act and react. Everything that you are doing right now will have a reward (or a consequence). Just keep pushing through it, because somebody is watching you and they are seeing the amount of effort you are putting.
Nobody is denying that senior year sucks, but guess what? It’s almost over! Soon, we will all be living the lives that we want… at least I hope!
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Bryana Langford
Cabot High School Senior