The Stress of Grade Twelve

By Liv Todd

Senior year.. If you asked me two years ago what these words would mean to me, I would answer with keywords such as; partying, time of my life, has everything all figured out, and the queen bee’s of the school. Of course in the eyes of a fifteen year old, grade twelve creates a stigma that life is awesome and stress-free. If you asked me right now what the word graduate  means to me, I would answer with the words; anxiety, having no sleep, and endless relatives ask me “so what are you going to do with the rest of your life?”

Grade twelve is nothing like going to war but it’s similar in the sense it creates intense stress on all seventeen year olds in (barely) a year to decide what the rest of their lives entails.. From the hours of homework spent doing every night, just to keep up the 85 percent average is not a breeze for anyone. Going through this myself, I have made some stress reliever methods, hopefully you can gain some helpful insight from this

After school I like to spend a half an hour to take a hot bath. This relieves any stress I have going on, and it  can help to take everything off my mind. Afterwards I like to write any assignments I received  throughout the day on my calendar to keep myself organized and on the right track. I typically spend one to two hours a night on homework and make goals for myself to keep me encouraged. Around 10:30 p.m. I start going to bed to give myself a nine hour sleep to keep energized for the next day.

Grade twelve may not be easy, but it’s important to stay on top of everything regardless of what challenges you may run into. As quite a dramatic teenager, this year seems like life couldn’t get any worse but as long as you find a stress reliever that works for you, it will truly make your senior year  worthwhile.