Feeling Stressed?

Do you ever feel like the world is just caving in around you, or is it more like a drowning feeling? Many teens feel like that. We simply have too much on plates. I'm a senior in high school and all around me my peers are stressing about schoolwork, community service, clubs, sports, part-time jobs, SAT/ACT, applying to college, so on. Is all this responsibility entirely neccessary? What happened to the best years of our lives, where we are old enough to go crazy and have fun but we are also provided a stable shelter by our parents? Now our time is filled with all these added activities that we're told are required to get into college, and if we blow one priority off just to avoid a nervous breakdown, we are made to feel as though we will NEVER go to college and therefore we are a failure at life and we will simply die! So we are pressured forward by our parents, guidance counselors, and teachers. My friends don't have time to just relax and hang out everyonce in a while. Even if there is any down time, we're too stressed to relax and we all feel anxious to do something productive because we feel like down time is one step back from college. I can't remember the last time I was relaxed enough to let loose and forget about my responsibilities for just a couple of hours!!! Now, I sincerely do want to go to college after I graduate and I will do all I have to to get in, but sometimes college isn't for everybody. There are so many successful, respected, and contributive people in the world that never went to college, some didn't even graduate high school, so feeling like college is the only answer to survival as an adult is a complete cock-and-bull story. A college education may give one a boost towards getting a job that provides a stable life, but a person can do fine without it. Not getting into a college is not the end of the world!! Additionally, many students are graduating with a bachelors and even a master's degree and not finding employment in their fields. Many have to resort to minimum wage jobs because they can't find higher levels of employment, but that is an economic issue that I'll discuss at a later date. The point is, there is no fun in being a teenager anymore. The world seems to be sucking the lives out of us. What is the purpose of all this added pressure to go up and beyond? Isn't doing well in school enough? Maybe even a part-time job to help save for later, but if we're not working, going to school, in some sort of club, and doing community service, we are told that we have no chance in getting into a respectable school. Well, that isn't completely true. If you're not doing all those things you most likely won't get into Harvard or Yale, but you can still get into a respectable college. You don't need to get into that popular state school to land a good job. Plus, if worse comes to worse you can always go to a community school for 2 years, get your associates degree, and transfer to a better school. So, basically, no-sweat. The future isn't as scary as it seems. Sit back, relax, and enjoy being young and beautiful, with a nice roof over your head.