Growing up I can remember sitting on a park bench on the sand, watching the waves and feeling the sea breeze, eating a black and white cookie. Now, for eight-year-old me, these cookies were the best things since sliced bread. However, I had a bad habit. Every time, I would eat all of the chocolate side, then all of the vanilla side:  it was always all or nothing. 

I was like this with other foods as well, eating all of my greens, then all of the potatoes or rice, then the main part of the dish, and in my mind, saving the best for last. This all-or-nothing habit of mine stuck, and I started applying it to all aspects of my life.

My mom would call these my “50 day hobbies,” and she called them this because they never lasted for more than a couple months at most. Whether it would be sitting with a guitar on my lap for 8 hours a day trying to learn a new song then not touching it for months, or playing a new game for hours on end then forgetting about it a week later, everything had the same cause for ending:Burnout.

In my freshman year of highschool, I could sense the burnout coming. I know, a little young for senioritis; however, I was saved, in a way, by Covid-19. My habit, however, started to show its cracks during junior year. With grades that are unchangeable,my lack of balance and habit of burnout permanently altered my future by limiting the amount of doors and paths available to me.

If there were to be one piece of advice I would have been able to give to a younger me just entering highschool, it would be balance. Balance your school life with your personal life. Find time for yourself away from the grades and the number you think defines yourself as a student.

Highschool is a marathon, not a sprint, you can’t always be 100%. There are times where you need to speed up, but always points where it is okay to slow down and rest.

Without being able to properly balance all aspects of your life you won’t be able to excel in one.