Embrace Opportunities

By: Amanda G. 

There are plenty of people out there that don’t give their best. In fact, everyone experiences a downfall at some point or another. But why do something if you aren’t going to put any effort into it? Why bother showing up to school every day until you’re 16 to just quit? Or, why even go on to college to say, “I’ll do enough to pass, or maybe enough to get a C” because you don’t feel like doing better quality work? What’s the reason in that?

I personally grew up being “forced” to take tae kwon do during my childhood. I got my black belt (willingly, after some fights) in August 2011 and it taught me several things. One of the values that became drilled in my head as a result of approximately 7 years of training was effort. The moment I decided I wanted to get my black belt, I started giving 110% of my best every day. Now, that doesn’t mean I was always wonderful, but if I was feeling at maybe 50%, I still gave 110% of everything I had. I always did my best from that point onward. 

This lesson on effort doesn’t just apply to my tae kwon do either. People every day just drag through their lives thinking, “Well, it’ll get better once this happens, and I’ll try then. But for now, I’ll just wait like this...” But this way of thinking has a few faults. First, what if what you’re waiting for never comes and you spend the rest of your life just being blah? I would hate that for myself. I wouldn’t want to bother going through life like that. We all have to go through the ups and downs of life, but I am taking something good out of it to carry with me.

Or, maybe you just don’t feel like putting your best effort into school because you’re extremely athletic. Putting your all into sports seems logical, right? But then why go to school? Why not just be a professional athlete? And if you’re this person, you might say, “Well we’re required to go to school until 16.” But think about this for a minute. If you’re going to attend school for 16 years, which is a very long time, why not go and make the most out of it?

I can’t make you do your best in everything and I sometimes slack off on things myself. But, if you’re going to spend a long time doing something, you should probably figure out how to utilize every moment of it. School is a huge chunk of the teen life, so it’s probably the best idea to go ahead and find a way to enjoy it.

Information Overload

By: Amanda G. 

Here’s a glimpse at what my first day of school looked like this year.

I overslept because I had just gotten home from a vacation the night before. So I had a mere 10 minutes to go before my dad needed to take me to school. I ate a measly breakfast consisting of toast and a glass of juice. I hurried to gather everything together in my backpack and ran out the door with my socks and shoes in hand.

At school, I was bombarded first by my math teacher. While I knew my schedule was incorrect, she insisted I was still in the right math class. I’d actually hoped to take Civics and Economics first period, but that was another scheduling dilemma in itself.

I hadn’t signed up for Civics online – I’d wanted to take it in the classroom with my friends - but that’s what I’d been placed into. I couldn’t fit the class anywhere else in my schedule so I ended my first day with a new online class, a mammoth amount of information from my teachers, and math homework. Lots of math homework.

By the end of the first week of school, my online class was switched to honors and I was  swamped  with homework – partially because I was also in my first AP class. Already struggling with the online aspect of my schedule, I felt I was getting behind before I’d even started. Overwhelmed didn’t begin to describe the level of my frame of mind. My problem wasn’t the course work though, I understood just fine.

Time management was what I needed. So I sat down with a few sheets of paper and drew up a draft of the next week. I made a list of all my goals and everything I’d have going on.  Making a plan had me half-way towards success because I didn’t feel nearly as lost as before. For the rest of that week I followed the schedule and found I’d budgeted my time very well. I even managed to give myself an evening off.

None of this made me a bad person, nor was I dumb not to have had a handle on things immediately. Being thrust into a new setting and being dumped with unexpected work will stress anybody out.  Sitting down and taking a deep breath will fix everything. Don’t be nervous about the amount of work you have; that will only slow you down. Relax, and power your way through it. Reaching the end is possible, and when you get there, it’s the best feeling you could ever ask for.