Halloween is coming up, and usually I have a bad attitude about this holiday.  I still think it’s pretty pointless, but heck, it’s fun!  I am going to be dilbert, but I have a date on Halloween night, so I won’t be dressing up and collecting candy.  And no, we’re not  going to a haunted house.  I am scared to death of haunted houses, and I’d probably pee my pants if I went.  We are going to  Cafe Rio, the best restaurant ever, and going to see Where the Wild Things Are.  I am very excited!

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            Why do we push ourselves to the limit of human abilities?  We are all only human, yet we push ourselves to super-human limits at work and school.  Today, we were taking an essay test in my AP Literature class.  Now, the question was a challenge of course, but it wasn’t anything scary.  We were all nearing the end of the test when I noticed a girl, the valedictorian in fact, crying over her essay, which I could clearly see was not done, and was scribbled out in many places.  She continued to cry until our teacher called time.  At this point she did not turn in her essay, but left the class.  She did not return to get her things for the rest of the class.  I know she has at least four AP classes, and I’m assuming she has six, because of her book load.

            So, again, why do we push ourselves so hard?  Why did this girl push herself to the point of collapse and utter failure?  Do we have some need for success that we are determined to accomplish even if it creates failure?  I have many friends that are just like this girl.  They have created an unreachable standard of what is “acceptable progress” in school.  If you don’t get a certain score, take these certain classes, get so many credits, participate in certain groups, fill out so many applications, and/or go to a certain college, then your life will somehow be tainted and unacceptable.  This obsession with academic excellence is taking over teenagers lives.  There is a widening gap between the high school drop outs and those who are academically achieved.  There is no gray area anymore.  You can’t be mediocre anymore in your school performance.  There is as much a competition among students as there is among parents.  How many have heard or said “Well my kid is doing this activity,” or “My child is part of this club,” or “My kids only go to this prestigious college.”  This is washing over into teenagers mindsets now.  Just the other day I heard someone in my class say that it was his goal never to go to our local community college, because it was his goal to never go there, and he was too good to go there.

            This obsession takes root as our society gets more and more competitive.  At the rate we’re going, associates degrees will be required to even enter the work force at anything above minimum wage.  I am guilty of this, but luckily I simplified my life so I can have the time to do the things that I love, as opposed to only the things I have to do for an education.  I am in the Concert and Jazz Band at my school.  I play on the tennis team.  I have time to write on this blog and personally.  I have time to date girls on a somewhat regular basis.  One friend of mine told me that she stayed up until 2 a.m. every night that week to finish homework for her two math classes.  I asked her what the crap she was thinking taking so many classes.  Her response was obvious.  College.  The saying is brought to mind: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  But at least Jack will have an Doctorates Degree in Astrophysics right?”  But what experiences will Jack have from high school and even college if he only studies himself to death?

            I am definitely not against getting an education!  I am going to college, getting a degree in computer science, and possibly a major in English (for my writing).  But too much of anything is bad for you.  Believe it or not, too many academic classes can be bad for you.  Colleges are looking for well rounded people.  Why do they ask so many questions on college applications, besides what was your GPA and what classes did you take?  They want people that not only excelled in the academic aspects of school, but those who also participated in sports, music, art, etc.  Now, it sounds like I’m contradicting myself, right?  But everyone is required to take x number of classes, right?  Well, why not mix it up a little.  This is where your experiences that shape your life and the choices you make and what kind of person you turn out as come from.  If I only took math and science classes (and English, because it’s required), what kind of person would I turn out as.  I wouldn’t know as well as I do now how to write a paper using rhetoric, or why the eighteenth amendment was created.  If I only focused on one subject, or if I tried to focus on too many subjects to graduate from college before I’m out of high school, then I will be a poorly rounded, or shallowly educated person.  You can’t absorb much from any class when you have so many academic classes that you are depriving a developing and emotional body from sleep and rest.  Yes, there is a difference.  You can sleep at night, but you need to rest too.       Resting can be anything that relieves stress.  Go serve some tennis balls.  Take a computer apart.  Play with your dog.  Go on a long walk.  Take a rest from your academic and working life.  Go hang out with friends.  You might never see them again after this senior year in high school.  Get to know them all a lot better than just asking them what is due in the next class.  Study groups don’t count.  Forget school, work, homework, whatever.  Go have fun!  Yes, that word still exists.  Be kids!  But, you might say, I do have a social life.  I have a girlfriend/boyfriend, and I have 300 friends on Facebook.  Number one, think about how often you go out with your girlfriend/boyfriend, and how long you really think your relationship is going to last.  You might be spending your money on someone else’s wife/husband.  Think about previous relationships.  Remember the stress, fighting, hurt feelings, and hatred.  Then rethink your relationship now.  A lot of stress will be gone if you stick with friendly dates with lots of girls/guys.  Number two, Facebook doesn’t count, so forget it.

            I might sound a little off topic in some parts of this article, but I feel that I have covered the necessary means to lighten your load and relieve your stress.  Perhaps I will touch up on anything I have left out.  Basically, find balance in your life, and don’t be a college zombie.  Choose your life’s path wisely and do what you love to do.  You might not be super rich and get an awesome house with a sweet ride, but you will be doing something that you love to do, and you’ll have millions of memories that you can’t gain from any text book.  Ah, a theme for my paper.  Killing yourself will only bring bad memories of how hard you worked for… a good education.  That’s about it.  You have at least sixty more years left in your life.  Your life is not even close to a fourth of the way over.  The rest of your life is for all the hard work, so you can relax and take a chill pill while you are allowed to have fun.  So go have fun!  Go live life, be balanced, relieve your stress, go to dances, date lots of people, have lots of friends, and make so many memories that it would take a biographer a million years to record them all!

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