Student Editorial By: Manthan More, Goose Creek Memorial High School Senior

High school is supposed to be more than just grades and test scores. It’s where we figure ourselves out, spend time with friends, and build some kind of future. But honestly? A lot of that gets buried. Your life becomes a non-stop list of tasks because you need to handle schoolwork, practice sessions, work commitments, and club activities. The wild part is that most of us deal with more than anyone around us even sees.

Students who enroll in AP or honors classes face a heavy academic workload. Students from different backgrounds dedicate their time to school work, home responsibilities, family duties, and part-time employment. Students participate in sports activities and musical performances, and join clubs and volunteer work. Each individual activity remains achievable and enjoyable when practiced independently. Together, though? The accumulation of responsibilities becomes overwhelming at a rapid pace. The clock strikes midnight while you complete your homework, yet you cannot recall the last day that did not have a scheduled plan.

People frequently discuss the concept of achieving balance in life. Sounds nice, right? Real-life situations rarely produce balance through natural means. The weeks seem to stretch endlessly while you run without any sign of reaching the end. You continuously add new items to your list because you need to meet college application requirements, win awards, and fulfill external expectations. High school activities like football games, post-practice socializing with friends, and brief moments of relaxation become rare because stress takes over and sleep time disappears. The exhaustion you experience prevents you from participating in activities that you still want to do. And it’s not just being tired. When you’re overloaded, everything loses meaning. You finish an essay, but don’t feel proud. You win a game, but are already thinking about the next test. Even things you used to enjoy start feeling like another task to check off. That’s the hidden cost nobody discusses: when you’re always overachieving, you stop actually experiencing the things you worked hard for.

So, what does balance look like—really? It’s not a perfectly color-coded planner (though that can help). It’s a series of choices you actually stick to. Start small. Break tasks into short, focused blocks and protect them—phone flipped over, notifications off. Build tiny anchors into your day: a proper breakfast, a walk after last period, ten quiet minutes before bed. Sleep isn’t optional; running on three hours makes everything harder, no matter how much caffeine you drink.

Boundaries are huge, too. Maybe the hardest word in high school is “no,” but it’s also the one that gives you your time back. If an activity doesn’t fit your goals or drains you more than it grows, it’s okay to step away. Choosing a few things you care about—and giving them your best—is smarter than collecting every title and burning out by November.

And don’t do it alone. Text a friend to meet in the library and knock out homework together. Ask a teacher to help map out your week so due dates don’t sneak up. Tell your coach when you’re running on empty. That’s not weakness—it’s how you survive and enjoy the whole season, academically or athletically.

Here’s the bottom line: success shouldn’t mean cramming your schedule until you vanish from your own life. Real success is doing what matters, doing it well, and still recognizing yourself at the end of the day. High school is short, even if it doesn’t always feel like it. If we protect our mental health while chasing goals, we won’t just survive these years—we’ll actually remember them, and feel proud of how we lived them.