Life of a Sentinel (Told by a Sentinel)

Anyone who says school isn’t work is lying straight to your face.

Schoolwork isn’t the height of my focus currently, but it still takes an effort to get up every morning (early), and sit through 7 periods of work on top of other responsibilities. Just last night, I found myself finishing up with both homework and work for my extracurriculars at 12:20 am, and I still had dishes to do! Losing sleep is no joke. The later I stay up, the later I get up, which leads to risks of tardiness and an overall grudge held against the day that hasn’t even begun. Not fun to say the least.

Aside from lack of sleep, another worry of mine is about my future: will I have enough money? Am I interesting enough to get scholarships in college? How will I make decisions all by myself? It’s all very stressful. What I need to realize is that my parents won’t throw me out of their house and lock the deadbolt the minute I turn eighteen, and much like any other corner of my life, I need to not overthink it.

Image from Haley Goldburg

This past week has been filled to the brim with responsibilities and work to complete. On top of ordinary history assignments and essays to be written in AP lang, it’s Initiation Week for our thespian troupe. Now I’m juggling the Kennedy Assassination with the number of baked goods I volunteered to bake, as well as rehearsing for the play AND prepping for my speech meet. While I’d love to say my juggling is good enough for the circus, it is a COMPLETE mess. I wouldn’t be surprised if I left my head along with my car keys somewhere in the house when it’s time to go. When things get busy like this, it is easy for me to have a breakdown. This is why I take breaks whenever I can, and put my sleep schedule above those social media scrolls.

Image from Akshay Bhanawat

When things die down, I am looking forward to taking some quiet time with myself. I enjoy reading and listening to music (sometimes simultaneously) to wind down and calm my racing mind. I also plan to take some time to work on my cleanliness at home which doubles as self care and a way to keep my mom from becoming angry at me (sorry mom!)

While the life of a junior in high school can be spelled out in many words, if I had to give it one word to describe the entirety of it, it would be busy. Busy at school, home, work, AND fun. If all else fails, at least I didn’t try out basketball again (I still get secondhand embarrassment from my kindergarten self).

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