Leaving Cert year is a crash course in stress control for students
I couldnāt think of anything that seemed worth trying to talk about for five hundred words, so I let myself panic for a weekend and then realised exactly what it was I should write about. Stress.
Be it schoolwork or otherwise, every task this year so far has involved some degree of stress.
Iām trying to be a fantastic student, a best friend, an amazing daughter, a dream employee, among numerous other roles with numerous other adjectives that I am struggling to live up to.
I do my damnedest to put my best into my schoolwork, so from about 8.20am to 6.45pm, all of my energy goes into being as incredible as possible (which, if you know me at all, never happens, because I appear to be socially inept and an absolute klutz). What I have begun to notice, though, is that once Iām home, I barely have enough energy to toss my bag inside the door. The next few hours pass by in a sluggish blur, and I can only assume I look something like a fatigued member of the living dead. While my schoolwork is relatively good (Iād like to think it is, anyway), other aspects of my life are falling into disrepair. I feel bad, because Iāve neglected so much by the end of the day, even after trying so hard; I end up forgetting that I have to get a new copy, or that I should check up on a friend, or reply to a messageā¦ I remember things with a start in the middle of class, and completely forget about them again five minutes later, while my brain is trying to retain some maths theorem. Iām stuck in this cycle of stress and frustration, where I really am trying my best, but itās coming out as my worst.
I want to be as good a friend as I was twelve months ago; I want to be a really reliable employee who always replies to emails on time; I want to be some kind of self-sufficient daughter who really isnāt all that much trouble. But if I am all these things, can I still be a student who gets exactly what they want in the Leaving Cert? With my focus so divided, will I really be able to study very well?
Iāve decided that maybe, at seventeen, I am not going to be all of those things at once. Iām going to find some middle ground and try and stick to it, so that I retain some sanity throughout the year. Iāve begun by actually trying to talk to the people in my year, instead of being lost in my own world of endless stress all the time.
So, on behalf of all Leaving Cert students, I have a very simple but important message: We havenāt actually dropped off the face of the earth. Weāre just very, very tired. And stressed. Really stressed. See you all in June.
