Easy Does It
This is the second part of School Series: High School Edition. If you have not already, check out “In the Bubble” which is the first post in the series. Let’s begin. With schools across the country starting up again soon, this is a great opportunity to share advice, lessons, and adventures during my time in high school. After all, school is important not only from the classes we take to the socialization aspects but also from the discipline we have to figuring out who we are and who we want to become. From the lessons I learned during HS, here is some advice from my Sophomore year.
As a Sophomore (10th grade), I felt more assured going into the year. I had a great group of friends, I knew the school better, and I became involved in more activities. I joined the Cross-Country team for the second year in a row that Fall, I joined the bowling team in the winter, and I did Track in the Spring. I also joined Student Government and become more involved in school politics. In addition to that, I started volunteering as well. I found that the busier my schedule, the better I did and the happier I was. School is a juggling act. For example, the question usually raised asks to consider which of the three options would you chose as most important in school. Is it getting sufficient sleep, having good grades, and socializing? Usually the prompt asks you to pick two of the three options. When it came to high school, I would usually stay up late to finish all the projects/homework after going to events or practice. Therefore, my choices would have been good grades and socializing. I neglected getting sufficient sleep. My advice here is figuring out what works best for you and your schedule. Create a routine and try to stick to it. Once you do that, the easier the balancing act becomes.
Sophomore year was the year that I focused on socializing. I made a constant effort to get involved in the school, in the community, hangout with friends. It was a fun time, especially the Cross-Country season. We had a lot of great personalities on the team. The season felt more relaxed than the previous year. Most of the team from my Freshman year returned for another year. We were already close knit. Our team also hung out a lot outside of school this year, creating unforgettable memories. For instance, we had pasta dinners the night before meets, would bring bagels for the meets, we went to the movies, we had sleepovers, we did scavenger hunts, and played pranks. It is one of my favorite years to reminisce and look back on. It is also something I wish and hope that everyone gets to experience throughout life, not only in school.
During that period, I learned to follow my passions by finding something that peaks my interest. By doing so, you can use it to fuel your passion, inspire yourself and others that anything is possible, and use it as motivation to keep going. As the saying goes, “Find a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life”.
Another highlight of Sophomore year was Student Government. As I mentioned earlier, I started to become involved in high school politics. Unlike the current political environment for this year’s election, these politics centered around ideas and themes for different events throughout the school year, including volunteering events, homecoming decorations/theme (floats, t-shirts, etc), holiday decorations, and other school related decisions. A recommendation that I would give to students who are looking to become involved or meet new people but do not know exactly what club, organization, or activity to join, would be to participate in Student Government. Not only will it allow you to meet other people but you will learn about your school, its priorities, and how campus events are organized. In a sense, you get the behind the scenes information. You can use it to create a club of your own or join an organization already in progress and share your knowledge. As Audrey Hepburn once said, “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I’m possible”.
An activity that did feel impossible was bowling. I joined the Bowling team after growing up and going bowling with my family. However, the team was something else. I learned so much. For instance, I learned the difficulty of consistency within the game of bowling. Each day at practice we would play three games. For me, it was a hit or miss experience. Either, I would do well and get some strikes or spares in there. Or I would do poorly when I would be lucky to break 100. On top of that, I would say I was a little bit ignorant when I joined. I didn’t realize the time, effort, and skill bowling takes on a daily basis. I thought it would be a nice, calm sport that I could enjoy without overthinking it. But I was wrong. It’s not like playing a game during a night out with friends. It is a competitive sport. It wasn’t until I was no longer on the bowling team that I would watch bowling competitions on the television.
In Bowling, you have to make sure you have the proper shoes, worry about the weight of the ball, make sure to keep your arm straight or know how to curve the ball (not me!) while consistently putting up a good score. Usually that means achieving strikes, spares repetitively. And you have to watch where you step. The last thing you want to do is step on the slippery surface of the bowling lanes. Bowling can be quite dangerous.
I joined Bowling mainly because my friends encouraged me. They were on the Bowling team and they were great! They were consistent each and every day. They enjoyed each game, goofed around, and still managed to get good scores. I, on the other hand, was stressed. I would try to be consistent and would often fail miserably. I think I put too much pressure on myself to do well when I should’ve had the go-with-the-flow attitude as my teammates did. Perhaps then, my experience would have been different. If you ever find yourself in this situation, whether in bowling, school, a stressful time in your life, or life in general, remember to enjoy the process. Try not to add additional stress to your life by putting more pressure on yourself to do well. Instead, be patient, practice, and try your best. You can only do what is in your control.
After Bowling season came to an end, it was time for Track. I had another learning experience. As someone who did Cross-Country, I love running but track was a whole different ballgame. It was more complex. Both Cross-Country and Track have running in common. However, the difference between the two is that Cross-Country is long distance, ran on different terrain (grass, wood chips, through creeks, in the woods) but it focuses on endurance whereas track is short distance, is ran on a track in a circle, and focuses on speed. For XC practices, we would do rounds of fartleks where we would have to run as fast as we can for a minute then slow down and jog for 1 minute only to have to repeat the set so many times. I was not a fan for the longest time. I even enjoyed running up hills more. That was until I started doing pyramids for Track where we’d run 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 400m, 200m, 100m on repeat at our fastest pace. The three sets I explained (Fartleks, Hills, Pyramids) all were exhausting but with the pyramids, I thought I was going to pass out each time. I would be so out-of-breath. If I had a side-stitch, I would be done. A side stitch is a sudden, sharp stabbing pain similar to a cramp but it is caused by a restriction to blood supply.
The reason I mentioned all this is so you can make an informed decision on which sport is more your preference. Incase you are considering one or the other. At the same time, I have had friends who did Cross-Country to be in shape for Soccer or Track to be in shape for Volleyball. It makes sense given that running in all other sports is typically considered the “punishment”. Running is a great way to de-stress and get in shape. Just make sure to take care of your knees.
Onto a more serious note, I lost a loved one in the Spring of 2010. You can read more about it here. The post is titled “Accepting the Unacceptable”. From that experience in particular, I learned the importance of telling people how much they mean to me. Such as how they inspire me, their presence, love, etc. I also realized how fragile life truly is and the significance of living life to the fullest. In other words, enjoy the moment. Take as many pictures as you want, laugh until you cry, dance walking down the street. Don’t care what others think. Live for you by having the life you want to live.
Before you go and enjoy the beautiful day, I have one further situation to discuss. In the 10th grade, I decided to take Honors Geometry. Back then, I was a girlie who loved math and science classes. Algebra and Chemistry were my favorites. And I did well in Pre-Algebra Freshman year that I decided to take an Honors class. For some context, there were not as many AP/Honors classes offered as there are today. I am not even sure if dual credit classes were offered yet. Anywho, there were some tough situations that occurred in this class. One of which, I will focus on today.
As you may already know or will soon experience yourself, Algebra and Geometry are two totally different subjects. One, focuses on equations and finding the solutions and the other centers around shapes. In other words, Geometry was not Algebra. I couldn’t just solve the equation, I had to understand the concepts and apply the information. That’s when things started to go downhill. I struggled with the pace of the class. I wasn’t finishing any exams and would turn them in half blank.
It wasn’t until my teacher noticed a pattern. I wasn’t failing the class because I didn’t know the material. Rather I was failing the class because I didn’t have enough time to complete the exam. He believed that I had testing anxiety. So, one day my teacher suggested that I come in before school to finish the remainder of my test. Once I did that, it helped me out tremendously. I was able to bring up my grade and I started to enjoy math again. I even became more confident in myself and my abilities as a student.
I owe it all to my Geometry teacher. If he didn’t recognize the patterns or notice the trouble I was having, I most likely would’ve failed the class. I could’ve lost my passion for math and who knows what else could’ve happened. But because he took the time and effort to realize that there was an issue, he gave me an opportunity to succeed. In the previous post of this series “In the Bubble”, I explained how I was lucky to have so many wonderful teachers during school including that of my English teacher Freshman year. This was another perfect example of so many amazing teacher out there who truly care for their students, who want the best for us, and want to help us succeed. Teachers not only help the current generation of students succeed but they also inspire future generations to succeed.
All in all, Sophomore year taught me a lot. It was an easy year compared to the next two we have yet to get too. I certainly learned a lot. My hope is that you learned something from me today. However, the most important message I experienced was that there was no challenge I couldn’t overcome. The same goes for you. You can do whatever you put your mind too.
Once again, I am curious to hear if we have had similar or differing experiences in high school. Comment down below or connect with me on socials (Facebook Page “Inspire Those Who Inspire You”) or my Instagram @inspire.those.who.inspire.you.
As a signature of this blog, I like to end each post with a suggestion to “Pass on kindness”. After all, there is no such time as the present to “Inspire Those Who Inspire You”. Acts of kindness, no matter how big or small, can have a direct impact on someone else. Go out there today and change someone’s life for the better.
