If I asked you what the most important thing in your life is right now, what would you say? Probably school. Maybe work. Sometimes people will say family. It all depends on circumstance I suppose.

If I asked my dad what my number one priority should be right now, he would without a doubt say “school.” If I asked my professors, I’d most likely get “grades.” If I asked my boss? “Being a good employee.” If I asked myself? Well, I guess I’m trying to figure that out right now. The thing is, everyone always says grades, or work, or sports, but the more I think about it, the more I realize one thing.

Nobody ever says “happiness.” Why is that? People seem to think that if you are doing well in school or if work is going fine or if you helped your team get to the playoffs or if you are super involved in several different things, that you’ve “got your priorities straight.” Supposedly you are on the right track to success, and you have got your life together. All is well, right?

Wrong. All is not well. Behind all the good grades and the hard work and the medals and the trophies and awards is a person who does not want (consciously or not) to be defined by numbers and supposed success. It’s a lot of pressure to live up to constant societal expectation, and it puts a strain on parts of us for which we should be more concerned. For example? Your happiness.

Think about this for a minute: are you happy? Yeah, that’s one heck of a loaded question, but are you? Maybe you aren’t. Maybe you’re fueled by an unhealthy level of anxiety to get things done and get them done right. Maybe you’re so stressed out that it’s pushed you over the edge towards depression or exhaustion. And maybe, just maybe, you don’t even realize it. I didn’t.

I didn’t realize until last year that feeling the constant overbearing weight of my anxiety in the back of my mind wasn’t something that was normal. I bet the star high school football player doesn’t realize that it isn’t his fault if the team loses, and he doesn’t have to practice ten extra hours a week and hate himself for it. I didn’t realize that I could live life without feeling constant stress, never being able to relax. I bet your average CEO doesn’t think about much else than constantly making his company bigger and greater and spending 80 hours a week doing it. I didn’t realize that there didn’t always have to be something to do, something to work on, something to stress over. I bet you don’t quite realize it either.

Well, let me tell you something. I’ve realized that now. I’ve realized that my mental health is more important than my grades. I’ve realized that my number one priority is happiness. I’ve realized that your wellbeing cannot be measured in numbers and trophies. Because what good is a 4.0 GPA or $250,000 salary if you aren’t really happy? Moral of the story: As the great Ronald Weasley would say, “You NEED to sort out your priorities.”