Stress(431)

Being a teenager is a hard job in itself, with the growing up, losing friends and loved ones, new emotions, and trying to be decently behaved in public. Not even mentioning school, or jobs, or family life, or extracurricular activities, or even friendships. Adults tend to ask a lot of teenagers now-a-days, but when does it become too much? I believe that it is good to push kids to be the best they can be, but if people push too hard it will cause stress and emotional damage to someone who is still learning to be a functional human being.

            At school I’m busy from 7 am until 3 pm. 8 hours of just absorbing new information, each night I would say I have a few hours of homework, probably about three hours. And after school I have practice for show choir, which isn’t that bad now, because it is preseason practice, but once we hit the competition season it will be chaotic. I feel bad for people in cross country or swimming because a lot of the time two practices will overlap and they would have to go one to the next. And of course jobs. After school jobs are great but they just add another activity that you need to fit into a schedule. With all this time taken up where do you put hanging out with friends or spending time with family?

            I believe that one of the reasons people who work a lot, or people who are super busy get more stressed out, and tent to have anxiety, is because they don’t have time to just talk with their friends or tell their parents or siblings about their day. Because of this lack of communication there can be conflicts in homes, causing more stress then before.

            A good friend of mine told me she had a conversation with her vocal teacher about just this subject. Her vocal teacher, Mrs. Elliot, had told her that in today’s society there is too much pressure put on kids to pick the right college, hang out with the right friends, join all sorts of clubs, and get a job. Mrs. Elliot said that when she was a teenager they let you be kids. I’ve read before that teenage students today have the same stress levels as psych ward patients did in 1950. And I totally believe it. It seems to me that in the 50s kids worried more about what poodle skirt they were going to wear then what college they were going to attend. Read more about stress here: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/01/its_not_the_job_market.html