As the spring time is here and we have so many extracurricular activities in and outside of school; it is also important to set aside time for ourselves.
Because I’m in high school and have so much going on throughout the weeks, it’s difficult to find time to myself to just sit, relax and focus on the good aspects of life. Going though a busy season in life, as we all do, is hard especially in high school. Not everyone understand the effects of struggling with mental health. Many will say, “It’s just a state of mind,” or “You’re being too sensitive; you just need to get over it,” but they don’t actually realize being a teenage nowadays is hard with high expectations.
I have discovered that finding joy in myself and also finding happiness in the things or people around me was the solution to help my struggles decrease. In the time when I was struggling, I wanted to keep myself as busy as I could because that’s what people told me I needed to do to help, but when there were times when I couldn’t be busy, I didn’t know what to do with myself and found myself feeling sorry and doubting what my life has turned to.
When I realized this, something clicked in my brain and I knew that finding happiness in the things I can control is the only way I was going to be able to get through the rough patch.
Realizing the things I could and couldn’t do is what helped me take control over my thoughts and feelings. Having time for myself by taking a day off social media or the outside world and focusing on things I can control rather than the things that I have no control of helped my struggle lessen tremendously.
Spending time with my family and friends who love and support me in everything I do showed me that I wasn’t alone in my struggles. These people kept me busy when I needed to be busy, saw me on my lowest days, celebrated me on my high days and was there when I needed to be reminded what my worth was. They also allowed me to alone when I needed to be by myself.
Although the spring is really busy, knowing when we need to slow down and take time for ourselves is important. As I’m still recovering from my struggles, learning when I needed to stop and take a break and gather myself back together was a huge realization that I needed to discover about myself. It’s okay to slow down and take time for ourselves.