Written by Amanda Garbinski

Whether it’s home life, boyfriends/girlfriends, homework, sports, college, APUSH or even your lunch choice, we all have encountered stress.  The 2013-2014 school year has ended our short summer and welcomed us into continual responsiblities and priorities worth more than a tan line.  Freshmen are beginning their four year journey through the high school experience.  Sophomores are rising up from the low and finally finding their place as a high schooler.  Unfortunately, Juniors have entered, in my opinion, the most difficult and stressful year of high school, never mind their “joyful” Junior Portfolio.  And for myself, and the rest of my Senior class, we are now planning our future and preparing for even greater responsibilities.

Personally, I have always dealt with stress.  “Go with the flow” is a quote well said by most easy-going people, but for me, I find it difficult to not analyze the next step in my life.  After interviewing many students from Morgan, I came to realize most teenagers, and even adults have the same stresses.

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Stress has helped me stay on top of the work I dread.  It has helped me deal with situations that are overwhelming, making me stronger and more independent.  According the the cdc.gov website,  “Sometimes stress can be good. For instance, it can help you develop skills needed to manage potentially threatening situations in life. However, stress can be harmful when it is severe enough to make you feel over­whelmed and out of control”.

Sometimes days can feel piled high with priorites, so I have listed some strategies and solutions below that help ME turn my stress into positive motivation and eliminate the dread of tomorrow’s tasks:

• Make a To-Do-List but be realistic.  Not everything can be completed in the next two hours, so make small tasks and cross them out.
• Clean you room!  This sounds pointless, but when I go to bed and wake up in a clean and organized room, I feel a step ahead.
• Get enough sleep I don’t care how much homework I have; my bed comes before anything.  If I wake up with anything less than 7 hours of sleep, I panic.
• Use the weekends for fun I work hard during the school week so I can have my fun on the weekends.  Everyone needs to be around friends and forget about priorities.  Work hard, play harder…right?
• Stay positive I know it’s cliche, but seriously.  Situations are going to get difficult, but not coming up with a plan or even outlet to deal with stress will not help ANYTHING!

Stressed Out?  In the comments below, share what stresses you out and how you deal with the stress.