High school itself is a big step. Underclassmen are constantly questioning “How will this year be?”or “How will this go?” And, to be quite honest, it’s pretty subjective. Junior year a.k.a. “Hell year” is what you make of it metaphorically and literally. Going into my junior year, I was under the impression that this was going to be the year I struggled the most. Skimming through social media the summer of junior year only made that impression stick even more. So, ultimately upon coming back to school, I prepared myself for the worst because that’s the only idea I had in my head.
Finally, with this year coming to an end, I can faithfully say that this in fact, was not my worst year. I will say, I had to change and adapt to certain things than in my previous years. I am a big procrastinator. Throughout my freshman and sophomore year, I had a bad habit of putting off a lot of my work until the last minute and hurrying up rushing to do it in a frenzy.
Upon doing this, I would finish it all if I crammed. So, I never really thought to stop it because in the end I got my work done and I got the grade and that’s all that concerned me. As a junior this year, I quickly learned that what I have been doing was a one way ticket to burnout. Do not procrastinate. Junior year moves quickly. Depending on what classes you’re in, they really have some speed to them and procrastination is something that you can not afford while trying to juggle all of your classes.
I got that down pact. I adapted to the fact that being a procrastinator was something I’d quickly have to drop. So, at school and home I caught myself being more diligent in a way that I wouldn’t have to go home being stressed out about what I hadn’t done and what I still needed to do because I had to think fast and realize time waits for nobody. In doing that, I found my work load dissipating at a quicker rate which let me know I was going about things in a beneficial way. I kept doing that and it reaped positive results.
The academic aspect of junior year is only one part. This next part I would say is probably one of the more important things and that is simply: Know yourself. Make sure that you know where you stand as a person and ground yourself for your junior year. It’s highschool, I get it. This is a place and a point of time in your life where it’s easy to get thrown off and junior year will quickly humble you. Stay on your feet, and keep your eyes on the prize. In saying that, I don’t mean let your entire world revolve around school, but what I mean is do not let people knock you off course because a lot of the time you will get dragged down with those very people which is going to result in a lot of “I should’ve, would’ve and could’ve.” To avoid that, don’t fall for it from the start.
Do I think some people were being dramatic? Yes, but before you say “Oh it’s not that serious!” Think about what prompted people to act the way they did about junior year.
