Hey everyone, my name is Skai Harris, I'm a 17-year-old senior at Fordham High School for the Arts. Starting from ninth grade, high schoolers look forward to Senior year. It’s the most thrilling year of high school. But it's also the most stressful.
Juggling grades, dance rehearsals, interning after school and on the weekend, completing my college applications on time, and trying to have moments for myself all at the same time can be challenging and difficult. It eventually had an impact on my mental health. You might have heard of the term “senioritis” and let me tell you… it's a real thing.
Senioritis is when a senior in high school thinks because they’re about to graduate, they don't have to do school work any more, come to school and basically slack off. Trying to fight senioritis was my biggest struggle this school year. Once I was accepted to the colleges of my choice, I thought I didn’t have to do school work or show up to school or put in effort. I was done with it all… at least I thought. And surprisingly, no one was stopping me so I thought it wasn’t a problem.
However, that just ended up hurting my mental health more because it left me unhappy and unorganized mentally and physically. I saw a difference in my appearance, actions, and mood. I didn't like that for myself. This is when I started trying some new strategies to help me improve.
Some things I began doing was eating properly which helped enhance my mental health and it also provided me the energy to get up and do what I needed to do. One of my favorite things to eat during the day was acai bowls. There’s many different types of acai bowls, however, my favorite was a classic which has blending banana and strawberries with
granola, bananas, coconut shaving, chia seeds, and honey. Eating those bowls at least 3 times a week made me feel amazing. I even got other people to try it and they ended up loving it.
I also began using a calendar and planner to help me manage my day and stay on task. It was what I needed to accomplish my activities for school, work and myself. I no longer stressed out at the last minute if something wasn’t done.
And finally, taking naps. I LOVE NAPS!!!!! Some people don’t like to take naps because
they take too long and take time out of their day or because they won’t be able to sleep again later. But let me tell you, naps benefited me so much. At first I felt like taking naps during the day took time away from my day, when I could’ve been working on a bunch of things, but instead I always felt refreshed, relaxed, and motivated to get some work done after waking up. Also for some odd reason it also benefited my skin. I looked brighter and clear certain days after taking naps.
So, for help with the Senioritis blues these are my three tips, eat healthy, take a quick nap to rejuvenate, and use a daily planner to manage your day to day activities. These tips helped me manage my stress when it comes to school and preparing for college as well as interning after school. These tips may not work
for everyone but give it a try and see if there's a difference in your routine and mental health!
