Forewarning: this is going to be a rant post.
Over the course of high school, I have heard countless stories of times that a parent or another adult in someone’s life has undermined the level of stress and exhaustion that they feel on a day to day basis. Contrary to popular belief, teenagers do have reasons to be stressed and tired. Typically, we have seven classes that we have to worry about every single day.
That means that we can have a night full of homework on top of the seven or eight hours of school every weekday. That’s stressful enough, but then when we have tests, quizzes, or essays to prepare for which can add hours on to homework every night. Then, if a student doesn’t have seven classes, they may be taking college classes alongside their high school classes, which adds the stress of a college class on top of regular classes. But don’t worry, adults have “actual things to stress about and lose sleep over.”
What about the stress and lost sleep over college decisions? What about the constant worry that you won’t be able to get your work done because you have to work? What about the teachers that assign two times the normal amount of homework because they think their class is the only one that matters? What about having to volunteer in order to stay in clubs like National Honor Society or BETA Club? What about extracurricular activities that people join for their college applications?
Students can have the stress of school work, a job, volunteer hours, and extracurricular activities every single week of their high school career. That’s a lot to pressure to be under when you’re 15-18 years old. When there’s no one to turn to that will listen and understand your stress, all that pressure can build up and cause severe anxiety or depression, which is horrible to deal with, especially during high school.
Now, I’m not saying that adults or college students don’t have any reasons to worry, but having different reasons for stress does not give anyone the right to discount anybody else’s problems. Everyone has reasons for stress and anxiety and lost sleep. The bottom line is, just because someone is younger than you, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t allowed to have problems.
Instead of saying, “Oh, you don’t have a reason to be stressed, you’re just in high school,” sit down and see if you can help whomever it is that is talking about their worries. Recognize and understand why they feel the way they do, then try to help them deal with it rather than pushing it back down on them. They'll thank you for it.
