For a high school student, finals week is usually the most stressful time of year. You’ve got multiple-week long group projects due even though you probably haven’t started AND the kids in your group are probably unlikely to help you in the slightest, and on top of that you’ve got essays and tests to study for. And for most of us the final grade calculator becomes our most visited website. During this commonly named “Dead Week” most kids survive on microwaveable dinners and fast food, but for me, a good meal is one of the most important things. I, unlike most people, stress cook. Yes, that’s right, I don’t stress eat I stress cook. This essentially means I spend a few hours cooking my meals for the week before finals start. For me, cooking has always been something that centered and grounded me. I also think that when I eat healthy I just feel physically better and more mentally aware of what’s going on. But above all, taking time to just sit down and eat allows me to put everything else off to the side, even if only for a little while. And as a person who lives in a world that tells me that my value is measured by how much work I can get done in a certain amount of time, I think that’s pretty radical.

Within an educational system that measures your intelligence and ultimately your value with a simple calculated score, stress over grades is inevitable. I don’t mean to say that I have a different system or any meaningful reforms that can be made, but rather that because the educational system isn’t likely to change anytime soon, it’s important to learn how to survive within it. Taking time to do the things that you enjoy is one of the most important things that you can do, not only on a psychological level, but also on a level of productivity. If someone were to only do tasks they were assigned without any critical thinking or personal enjoyment, they obviously have conformed their life and desires to exactly what other people want. This sort of living for other people, while important within a community based social environment, seems to assume that personal aspirations and pleasures don’t matter and that the purpose of life is to sacrifice for others. This isn’t to say that we should never help other people, just that in a world that tells us to continually produce more and more for other people, it’s definitely important to take time to keep yourself happy. On the other hand, in order to survive in this dog-eat-dog world, you do need to balance that with a level of productivity, however, taking time for oneself should still be considered important. Studies have shown that those people who take time to relax are more effective and are able to be more productive during the time they spend working.

For, a long time I just did whatever anyone told me to without thinking about how it would actually impact me, or if it was even possible for me to make it happen. I spent so much time putting everyone else first that I let myself be taken advantage of but once I started to spend time doing the things I wanted to do I was able to strike a balance between my own happiness and the happiness of the people around me. Overall, there’s not really a way to escape the need to work and produce for other people, but we all can work to minimize the impact it has on us by taking time to take care of ourselves in whatever way works best.