As adolescents, we are taught that school comes first. Our parents meant for us to put school above extracurricular activities, socializing and TV, but as we got older we started to put school above everything. Physical and mental health started to fall off the list of priorities as we worked for good grades; we lost sleep over assignments and started to skip lunch to study. As a result of all that many of us become extremely stressed and overworked, causing grades to slip.

For the past few weeks, I have started putting my health before my school work. I plan out every night to give myself 8-9 hours of sleep and 45 minutes to get ready for bed. It took a couple days to get used to the schedule, but now I am waking up refreshed and ready to start the day. The other routine I added to my day happens after I get home from school. Every day when I get home from school I grab a snack and I sit and watch TV for about half an hour. After school, I am too tired to concentrate properly so I give myself a little break. Even before my show is over I feel like working on school work.

Throughout my homework, I take little breaks to keep from getting bored and losing concentration. I never work longer than the amount of time I have allowed. I make sure my sleep is more important. I do this every day and I don't find myself procrastinating, instead, I am actually more on top of my work than I have ever been.

The school is often misconstrued as the top priority, but people don't understand that in order to do well in school there are certain needs that have to be met. Think of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs; there are five levels of basic human needs that should be met in order to achieve self-actualization and to feel successful. On the very first level is food, water and sleep, the most basic of human needs; which students are currently throwing away in hopes of getting good grades. How is someone who hasn't even met the most basic of all needs supposed to function on a day to day basis?

My new routine has helped me get a handle on my school and my stress. By allowing less time for homework and allowing more time for my health, the quality of my work is improving. I am no longer allowing my school work to get in the way of my health. Sleeping a proper amount at night has really helped me to be able to stay focused all day. I do my work to the best of my abilities.

It is hard to take a step back and stop focusing solely on school. After all, it has been engrained in our lives that school comes first. School should come second to health because your health is the most important thing you have. You can always retake a test, but you only get one life.