Senioritis- known by many to be the lack of focus and determination by students nearing the graduation of high school or college.
And boy, do I have it.
I think that most people take senioritis as a joke. It really is quite silly, and a reason for seniors to be lazy. But what I have learned in the past month is that it is very real and very hard to shake.
At the moment, I am juggling regular high school classes: Ancient and Medieval history, journalism, and Student Service Learning, my job at burger king, English 101 at college, leading the Fellowship of Christian Athletes club, going to Church, my relationship with my boyfriend, Zach, making time for family, homework, and time to just breathe (which gets the least amount of time, unfortunately). I knew most senior’s schedules were normally pretty crazy, but I was not prepared for this!
Every year my aunt would say, “just one more year! You can do it! And senior year will be a breeze. You will barely be at school, and you can really enjoy your time with friends.”
Okay, maybe I do Ieave after third period, but I work every day besides Monday and Wednesday when I have college. I close every night besides Saturdays. Each of my shifts is at least 5 hours long. If I’m not already working on an essay there is another one due. There is always planning to be done for club. Eating is nice every now and then. Of course chores can’t be skipped at home, so that includes laundry, loading and unloading the dishwasher, taking out my dogs. Oh it’s your birthday? Well here’s a high five cause that’s all I can afford.
You might be thinking, “How can you possibly have senioritis when you have so much going on?” Well, that’s just the thing. I have loaded so much on to my plate from the buffet of life this year, I can barely even swallow what I have taken on. In this case, my eyes, and fork, and spoon were a lot bigger then my stomach.
Never before have I been so swamped with the chaos of life. I think this has a lot to do with why I have senioritis. I am so overwhelmed by what I have to do, my brain has just decided to not want to do it at all.
I chose not to take a lot of AP classes this year because I wanted to avoid the extreme amounts of homework that I have seen many people suffer through. Not only that, but I felt like I would rather just take those specific classes when I needed to in college so I didn’t forget everything in the meantime. Also, some schools are particular on what they accept as passing grades and eligible classes, so I just decided to wait. However, even though I don’t have 5 hours of homework every night, I still have a big schedule.
In the beginning of the year I slept whenever I had free time- I wasn’t used to such a heavy load. Now I am a little bit more used to it, but it has really affected my eating habits. I eat way too much burger king since I work there, and other than that, I really just snack. It is terribly unhealthy, and I really need to find a way to even out my eating, sleeping, and daily habits.
I unfortunately don’t have an answer yet, but I think this year has served as a wakeup call. I have never really been that big of a fan of high school, and I constantly am saying “I can’t wait ‘til I’m done!” While that is still true, this year has shown me what life after high school will be like.
Even though I have been stressed out of my mind, I am really excited for my future. My senioritis will wear off eventually, it has to, because I know that everything that I am kicking my butt for now will pay off in the end. Hard work makes me feel proud, and I know that that will take me far.
