Friday, April 26, 2013

Battling the teenage triangle


School, seven hours. Voice lessons, 30 minutes. Break, one hour. Homework, three hours. Computer, one hour. Project, two hours. Then I get ready for bed, only to sleep and wake up again the next day to repeat it all.
In high school, the subject of utmost importance to teenagers is themselves. Their school work, their sleep, and one of the bigger priorities, their social lives. It is difficult to balance all three of these things, being so busy to fit everything in, and that is where the “teenage triangle” comes in. This is a picture of a triangle with the words social life, sleep, each written at a tip of the triangle. This triangle claims that you can only choose one, and while most people believe this to be true, I think differently.
The utmost priority for me is school. I try as hard I can to keep pace with the hectic workload my teachers dump onto me, but constantly, projects or research papers bombard me. It almost seems as if my teachers believe I should spend all of my time working at school, as if seven hours of school is not enough. I have nothing against homework, but the abundance of work I am required to complete outside of school is excessive, but as difficult as it is, I still manage.
My second most priority is my social life. Because of homework, I have remotely no time to have much of one, but I still strain to be a part of my surroundings. Being in choir, along with other extracurricular activities takes up a lot of my time, so the only time I truly get to socialize with people is on the weekends either when I am not finishing Friday’s homework, or when I am squeezing in texts between my homework and activities.
My third most priority should be treated better than it is, but it is not due to my lack of time. Sleep. Yes, I know, sleep is very important, and I get some, just not much. In between everything I have to do during the day, I may manage to slip in a quick nap every once in a while, but for the most part my activities go on into the night, which leaves me vigorously trying to finish my work so I can finally just sleep. It is truly an ongoing cycle. Day after day, nothing changes except for the date.  Sleep is practically the one and only thing that makes the daily torture worth it.
While sometimes finding a way to keep up with my school, sleep, and obtain my social life seems impossible, it is not. I find a way to balance all of these things into my life, as difficult as it is. Time management and willingness to get everything done is important, and sleep definitely helps. As the teenage triangle is meant to be universal, I myself have conquered it, and I believe anyone else can too with a little shove.

Always,
Chelsea