It's the most wonderful time of the year!

No, not Christmas, it's the new school year.

I know school seems like torture after two months of absolutely nothing, but if you're a senior like me you're excited that you're leaving, but also stressed.

No matter how much we complain the system is corrupt and that we get too much homework, and the education system doesn't take into account students health or well being, they're not going to change. Not even a little bit. So you're going to have to suck it up and make the best out of the situation.

Here's how:

1. At the end of the day realize that it's just school. It's tough I know, and at one point I laughed at that statement. But I realize that now it's really just school. Still, try your hardest but when something doesn't work out, don't rip yourself apart.

2. Take a break. You cannot be a non-stop work machine. During junior year I did not leave my house for anything social. Not even a little bit. At the end of the year, I went crazy, I wanted to go out, have fun, and do SOMETHING. I was super burned out, and I lost a lot of energy and happiness doing that.

3. Get ahead the first semester. The more you push the first semester, the higher your grades will be, because after around February you're going to be super sick of doing the same things every single week. If your grades are higher first semester, you can give yourself a little more leeway during the second semester.

4. You need to eat. So many of my friends skipped meals and sat at their desk for hours at a stretch to just work and it wouldn't help them much because they'd just crash as the night went on.

5. Give yourself a place or a time where you'd absolutely never do any sort of work. I'd never ever do any of my work on the bus, no matter how much I had. I absolutely refused to because it was just one of those times where I wouldn't have the energy or mindset to work, so I'd just listen to music.

6. Sleep! It's so important. I can first hand tell you an all nighter actually kills the next day. It is absolutely one of the worst feelings in the world, and it makes you feel worse and even more stressed than you were the night before.

All of this advice might sound like BS, but once you get to senior year you really realize how horrible you get to yourself, and how horribly you're treating your body. You don't want to have a stroke when you're 20. You need to take care of yourself and put yourself above all else.