<p>I can't even bring myself to do my homework, let alone summer program apps and studying to retake the SAT. I have never been so tired in my life. It's not that I'm physically tired, but more that I'm burnt out. Between AP's, EC's, SAT's, working, and family/friends, I already feel like I need a break (and I'm just finishing up break...so shouldn't I feel refreshed or something?).</p>
<p>In fact, right before winter break I had four tests, a project, and an essay. I didn't even do the essay. Just straight up turned nothing in. That has never happened to me in my life. I suppose I could write one and bring it in when we go back Tuesday and beg for partial credit. I'd probably get it since I'm one of the top students in my English class, but still. Never in my life have I done something like that. I don't even know what I would say to my teacher. There goes my 4.0 uw. </p>
<p>What do you guys do when you feel like you just can't do it anymore? I've been motivated my whole life but I'm in this place where I can't even bring myself to work....help!</p>
<p>1) Get more sleep, even if you have some homework left to do. I always finish the hardest/longest homework assignments first so that if I do need to pass out, I can do the really easy assignments in the morning before school.</p>
<p>2) Find your passion. For me, it’s music. I find that if I play the piano, whatever, it helps me de-stress and refocus in.</p>
<p>3) Talk to your parents/GC? A bit of a cheesy solution, but they may be able to motivate you to get back on the right track.</p>
<p>4) Listen to your favorite music. I can almost guarantee that it’ll help you calm down.</p>
<p>5) Hang out with friends once in a while. It doesn’t have to be school all of the time.</p>
<p>Leah - I agree with CantConcentrate - music, sleep, and friends really help. Try not to take everything in with stress. Enjoy the good things you do have. And of course, be yourself.</p>
<p>1) You’re right. I need to work on that. A lot of times I end up procrastinating because I’m so exhausted and overwhelmed by how much I have to do haha. Bad idea…</p>
<p>2) I play piano and I absolutely love it. But it’s so hard to find time for it. I’ve been blocking out an hour for it lately and that’s helped though.</p>
<p>3) My parents are… let’s just say I can’t talk to them about it. They’re already mad at me about the English essay and they can’t understand why I don’t just get my stuff done. </p>
<p>4) I always do that and then I end up just listening to music for like an hour haha. That’s exactly what I’m doing right now…stressing over how much I have to do yet not doing it and listening to music instead. </p>
<p>5) You’re right. I do hang out with them but probably not enough. It doesn’t help that I have the strictest parents in life.</p>
<p>Basically I need to stop procrastinating and make more time for fun in my life. It’s just so damn hard. I can’t wait for 2012 to be over, then I’ll be a second semester senior<3</p>
<p>@thecollege1 You’re right, I do have amazing things that I should enjoy more!</p>
<p>I remember whenever I talked to a junior in the past they would always tell my junior year sucks. I was always like, nah… it can’t be that bad. But they were right, junior year sucks so bad and I feel kind of burnt out too. I have a 15-20 page APUSH essay due in a week and I wrote 1 page of it over break, even though I probably should have finished it by now. I don’t really have much advice for you though, perhaps you may feel a little better because I can relate to your situation.</p>
<p>I can’t even believe how bad it is. I literally work at least 70 hours a week. It does help (in a sickish way lol) to know I’m not the only one.</p>
<p>I’m writing that English essay I never did right now…it’s pretty much crap. I guess I’ll email it to my teacher and see if I can get partial, but I’m pretty sure this is going to bump me down to my first ever B. oh well. Que sera sera I guess.</p>
<p>I know what you mean. I feel burnt out too and I’m not excited for school starting up again tomorrow. I take an extra class afterschool in order to catch up to people with all of those Ap’s. Sometimes I feel like even with all of this work that I do I’m not up to par with others and it made me feel down several times this year, and the sad part is it’s not even over. </p>
<p>Yup, people were right! Junior year is definately a struggle, but I guess we just have to go through it together. Talking to my close friends helps, because we’re all in the same situation. Maybe you could try to talk to one of your close friends and have a ranting sesion for awhile. It helps sometimes to jsut let out all of that stress because we’re usually not allowed to. We’re expected to just deal with it, but sometimes it’s hard to even get up in the morning. </p>
<p>I’m not sure if I’ve helped at all but, I hope for the best for you and everyone else. :)</p>
<p>Sooo not excited. And I procrastinate and now I have a ridiculous amount of work to do. And I have work in an hour and a half. </p>
<p>My friends aren’t really in the same situation. They’re not aiming for top colleges. I’ve always been the most motivated, I guess. But you’re right I think talking to them about the pressure could help. A lot of them think it just comes easily to me, and they don’t understand when I try to tell them it doesn’t, I just work ten times harder than them haha. </p>
<p>I getcha on how hard it is to get out of bed every morning. Every single day when I wake up I seriously consider skipping school ahaha. Also I have like 12 tardies to first period. It’s really awful. </p>
<p>Thanks for your input it really does help to hear from other people going through it.</p>
<p>I hear you! At first, junior year was easy. Then December hit and it got 1000000x more stressful. I think I failed my first test the Thursday before break, because I just had so much stuff due. Not to mention trying to find time to study (and take) the SAT/ACT, musical rehearsals, homework, IB IAs I need to work on, trying to find places to research at over the summer, tests, essays…it’s just so much.</p>
<p>I had a legit mental breakdown the last day before break. :(</p>
<p>i switched schools…some people do feel alone in junior year, literally because they haven’t found any friends. so, be thankful for your support system! C:
CantConcentrate has some great tips. i like going for hikes by myself on nature trails; i’m one of those strange children who would prefer being homeschooled. look at study hacks websites. i’ve been following them/become zen and haven’t felt stressed during junior year. the sites say that if you’re stressed, you’re doing it wrong.</p>
<p>@iluvbooks sounds a lot like my to do list! I have to learn/take every Precalc test in the next semester & learn all the math 2 math. Then I also have two jobs, three club leadership positions, preseason training from 6-7 every morning, I have to retake the sat, and do homework for four APs. And summer program apps. It’s ridiculous. I actually also had a mental breakdown! Right after I got out of school the last day before break I just went home and cried for like three hours…pathetic I know haha. </p>
<p>@ivyandlemonade I actually moved the summer after my freshman year so this is only my second year. I have amazing friends but they live far away. I’ve met a few people here but my true friends are back home :/<br>
Haha but all that stuff sounds cool! I’m thinking about starting to train for a biking trip, then biking from Canada to Mexico next summer to fundraise. Maybe that’ll help :)</p>
<p>Don’t worry we’re all there with you!So many people assume that its just school but its the combination of this along with SAT studying, extracurriculars,etc. I know that with midterms for us coming up soon the pressure is really starting to increase. What helps me is that Friday afternoons after I get home from school I just chill and do what makes me happy,my own me time.</p>
<p>I keep hearing “junior year is the most important year of high school”, “it’s what all colleges look at”, “there needs to be an upward trend in GPA”</p>
<p>): I’ve tried harder this year than any other and my grades are dipping (not dramatically-but it’s still a dip)</p>
<p>I am with you. stress x99999 when i found out my ACT score D;</p>
<p>3 years of HARD work weighted equally with my ACT= ayyyy</p>
<p>Or take two days off. Seriously. Pick a day when not much will be going on in school so you know you won’t miss much. Sleep in for an extra hour or two, watch some dumb morning talk show you would never ever watch because it’s usually a complete waste of time, then do all your homework and studying.</p>
<p>I did it once sophomore year. I fell asleep when I should have been studying. I woke up the next day and freaked out because I had so much hw and studying left. My mom said, “You can stay home today if you want” but she was alreading dialing the school to tell them I was sick - I love her! I didn’t do it junior year but I had quite a few meltdowns. Junior year I’d study in the middle of my bedroom floor and have all my textbooks and notes around me. I remember having something like 3 papers and 3 major tests due the next day. It was 1 AM and my dad walked in asking why I still up - I completely lost it. I just started crying because I had so much to do and spending 8 hours a day at school felt like a waste of time when I could be at home studying at a much faster pace. Now as a senior, I’ve had my meltdowns and probably will take a personal day pretty soon. But we have a policy where you can’t go to ECs if you don’t go to school and I do theater so missing rehearsal is not good…</p>
<p>Moral of the story, I definitely understand where you’re coming from.</p>
<p>You don’t want to make a habit out of this personal day business. But missing a day of school isn’t bad. Don’t worry about having perfect attendance. It might not be a physical health reason, but your mental health is important too so take a day off if you need to. I don’t recommend this if you regularly miss school because of illness, but quite a few of my close friends with good reputations and creditionals (all in the running for validictorian, shooting for ivys, GREAT ECs/ACT/SAT…you get it…) take personal days every now and then.</p>
<p>Ok, sorry that got a bit into rambling…</p>
<p>Also, some nights when I am up until 1 doing homework I’ll just stay up an extra hour watching a TV sitcom or something. I know that seems dumb because it’s already 1 AM and I should probably sleep, but it helps me unwind. I function pretty decently on little sleep and the hour of unwind-time helps me really keep moving.</p>
<p>Hopefully senior year I’ll be able to quit one of my jobs… But yeah that’s gonna suck. I’m going to be gone the first six weeks of summer but im definitely using the last four to get as many apps done as possible. I don’t even want to think about it ugh. </p>
<p>@shevane that’s actually a really good idea! I never though about that I think it would really help. </p>
<p>@KPaaaa I know EXACTLY what you mean. Damn sat score…</p>
<p>Me too,I thought I was the only one b/c I heard junior yr is most important and now my grades are slipping…I’ve lost interest in school kinda…I have only As&Bs and 2 Cs and now my record will be ruined by the semester…all my grades are C or worse! I shouldn’t have taken 2 ap classes b/c now I have summer school for the 1st time</p>
<p>@nervousohio I completely relate to every single emotion in that post! Yeah I can’t take personal days off because then I would miss work, and I can’t miss work. I do have Thursdays off work though, so maybe I should try this next Thursday. It actually sounds like a good idea. I feel like my time in school is such a waste. It would be so much easier if I could just study myself and show up on testing days, honestly. I actually do the same thing at like one in the morning, except I usually lay in bed and listen to music. Sometimes I’ll even spend an hour and a half watching a movie. It’s bad ahha but it does make me feel better. </p>
<p>@NewClassic it basically is the most important but… we can only do our best right? I mean this will all work out somehow.</p>
<p>There’s no way around it…junior year flat out sucks! It was by far the worst year of my entire life (I’m a senior now). I literally had no time for fun whatsoever. Any spare time I managed to get was spent taking much needed showers, eating, or sleeping. Forget meals; I considered myself lucky to have 10 minutes to eat. I basically lived off of nothing but veggie burgers and soy milk the first semester of my junior year. Weekends were no better, because I would spend the entire time locked in my room frantically trying to remember physics equations.</p>
<p>How did I keep my sanity? I reminded myself that if I stopped I would never get into a good college and my life would be over. Nothing motivates a person like the looming threat of becoming a complete failure. Getting into a good college literally became the ONLY thing that mattered to me junior year, so to me getting into a lousy college (party school) really was the end of the world.</p>
<p>When I got discouraged, frustrated, or just plain burnt out, I would picture walking through the shining gates of my dream school. Somehow, that thought got me through it :)</p>
Talking to my close friends helps, because we’re all in the same situation. Maybe you could try to talk to one of your close friends and have a ranting sesion for awhile. It helps sometimes to jsut let out all of that stress because we’re usually not allowed to. We’re expected to just deal with it, but sometimes it’s hard to even get up in the morning. </p>