Surviving My Sophomore Year

June 14th, 2018. I’m sitting in my chair watching the clock tick. 2:09, 2:10, 2:11, and finally the clock strikes 2:12 and the bell wails its last ring. The school year was finally over, and it was time kick back, relax, and not worry about school. For about 3 seconds. My sophomore year really started at the end of my freshman year since I had a bunch of summer assignments to get done in Math, English, Chemistry, and French.

While the summer work was piled on, I also had summer plans and tons of other things going on that made my summer seem more like a work season than a break. Something that really helped me push through my summer work was surrounding myself with other fun things to do in the meantime so that when I sat down to annotate my novels or sit through chemistry lectures I knew I had something exciting coming my way the next day.

I attended a computer science camp over the summer so when I wasn’t working, I was exploring a passion which really helped me stay motivated for what was to come! I also made sure to set a strict time table and keep to it, but also give myself enough wiggle room so that if something unexpected came up I could modify and push things when applicable. When school started, the stress hit me full force.

Within the first week, I was writing essays and doing a bunch of homework for all my other classes. It was super overwhelming at first especially because I had just spent an entire summer focussing on only 5 or so assignments and now I was being bombarded with a ton of assignments and not much time to do them! Of course, part of this stress was part of the fact that I hadn’t been to school in 3 months, but I was also taking more AP Classes and taking on more extracurricular activities which piled on the work even more.

After a particularly stressful night filled with history notes, chem problems, and more, I reached my breaking point. I had lost any and all motivation to work and it was showing in the quantity - and quality - of my work, even though my grades held steady.

I knew there was something wrong. Was it my work-life balance? Was it my planning? Or had I just burned out? I decided to attack these problems head-on rather than let them get worse. My first idea was to start making daily to-do lists and check things off as I got them done. Unpopular opinion time: I have never and will never be a planner guy. I recommend them so much, but I just never remember to write in them. So, the best option was a daily checklist - what did I need to get done now and then what are side things that I should work on? I also tried a ton of different other time management methods - planners, online notepads, post-it notes, I even wrote my homework on my arm at one point! I eventually landed on the perfect solution for me, which was writing down what I had to do on a calendar next to my desk, kind of like a planner-to-do-list hybrid. However, there were still issues. Now I was getting my work done, but I was still going to sleep super late and my mental state was not improving. This called for a plan B.

In my experience, asking for help has always been super hard for me. Whether I'm too proud to ask for help or I simply don't want to seem like a bother, I have never been one to voice my concerns or ask people for help. Boy was that a mistake. As I realized that my previous attempts at helping myself didn't work, I knew I had to branch out and start seeing what ideas were out there. While I never asked my teachers for help (which was not a good thing!), being able to talk to my friends, both in real life and online, helped to alleviate my stress and pushed me over the finish line for this year.

In looking back at myself in September, I see a completely different person. Sure, Freshman year was stressful, but this year tested me in ways I didn't even know I could be tested. Between school, Fiveable, extracurriculars, and so much more, I'm frankly surprised at myself that I was able to make it through this year alive. However, I somehow managed, and now I'm finally done! Wait I still have two more years of this?