The ultimate guide to starting off the school year, stress-free!

As the school year starts to kick in, so do our responsibilities, assignments, projects – ouch! Shall I go on? The school year is what you make of it. Whether that is devoting most of your time to sports, parties or projects, you should decide what this school year is going to look like for you ahead of time. Your fellow highschoolers and I have some tips regarding what helps us rule the school year.

Get a planner.

It doesn’t matter what source of planning apparatus you use. Whether it’s paper planner, a reminder board, a digital calendar, or lots and lots of post-its, this is a “must have” in order to maintain a stable schedule this year. Once you obtain a planner, get creative with how you’re going to organize it! For example, I color code my classes, after school activities and out of school life. Not only will this help you see everything you have to complete, but it will also stimulate your brain and motivate you to get your work done!

Go to sleep!

I don’t think that many people understand how important sleep is. It’s so imperative that sacrificing sleep will only make us literally crazy. The first step is to make sleep your top priority. You could do this by setting a specific time when you drop all your work and go to sleep. Analyze your schedule and workload, and decide what time that should be (try and aim for 11pm-1am). I know it sounds difficult to manage, but in order to avoid stress, we must sleep!

Get ahead of your homework.

Getting ahead of work can be a thorny task to carry out. I strongly recommend doing all the homework that is assigned on the day it is assigned. Yes, this means taking a few extra hours to do that English assignment assigned Monday, that is actually due Friday. Getting ahead can absolutely help keep your year stress-free, and it will create good habits for the future.

Take time for yourself.

This final tip definitely deserves the “best for last” award. It’s essential for us to take the time to step back from the workload. When feeling stressed, take the opportunity to spend time with a friend/family member, watch netflix or simply take a nap. Whatever your preferred method of unwinding is, smiling, laughing and feeling fulfilled are major stress remedies.