In the last few weeks of school, there have been AP exams, final exams, projects, essays and timed writings and picking up and dropping off my brother to swim classes. In other words, it has been very busy for me and very stressful. I hardly had any time to do things I enjoy: not having any time to read before I went to bed, not practicing my flute every day, which is not a good thing, not running on the treadmill and not volunteering at the library as often as I use to. My schedule was completely packed, and I had no idea how to change it.
The idea of changing my schedule scared me because I didn't know if I would follow through with it. I'm the type of person where once I find a daily schedule, I don't change it because I'm scared it's going to mess everything up. With everything that was happening, I didn't want to change it, but I also didn't want to cut out the things that I love doing. It's hard to make time for something, but I'm always thinking, "If I love doing it so much, why can't I just make time for it?"
Every day I read before I go to bed to relax. It's like meditating. I practice the flute almost every day for 15 minutes just to calm down. I don't have to worry that much about volunteering because I try to go every Sunday. Reading and playing the flute are both stress relievers for me, and it's hard to make time if your schedule is already busy, so I decided to try something.
After I came home, I planned on eating a small snack before I walked or ran on the treadmill for at least 30 minutes. This way, I would get it over and not worry about not exercising for the day. This part of the idea didn't work because of pure laziness and the need to do well on my exams.
To be able to fit in some reading time before bed, I decided to cut down on how much I studied at home. I was already studying and reviewing during class, so when I came home I just reviewed what I went over in my classes plus a bit more. I also made a rule where between 9-9:30 p.m., I would get ready for bed and then read for about half an hour. This actually helped me a lot with relaxing, not being over-stressed and getting enough sleep.
The only other problem I had was trying to make time to practice my flute. When practicing an instrument, a lot of time is needed because it's time-consuming. I have to unpack, put it together, warm-up and tune (which takes at least 10 minutes), practice my music or play/write music for popular songs and then clean it up. It's still hard for me to make time to practice, but now that school is ending, and the stress is slowing fading, I have more time to practice the flute, and it feels amazing.
Practicing the flute gives such an incredible feeling of euphoria. It sounds strange, but when you do something that you love after a long time it feels amazing. I missed it a lot.
It's important to study for exams, but it doesn't mean you have to cut out the things you love to do. It wasn't hard to change my schedule because all it took was determination and willpower. I wanted and needed to change my schedule so it would benefit and not harm me. Yes, it sounds hard, but really, the only thing stopping me was the need to not change it. Once I got over that bridge, which took a while for me, it was easy. If you put your mind to it, it's possible.