There's an inexplicable feeling you get when you become involved in your community, or seeing the hard work that you've poured into a service project finally be finished for the whole town to view and appreciate. There's also an inexplicable feeling when you stare at your mountain of textbooks and notebooks on your bedroom floor, all of which need to be looked over to an extent, and looking over at the clock and seeing that it's almost midnight. Both of the feelings feel like waves, but the second one is like being knocked over and nearly drowning.

I have come to the conclusion that a lot of people that I have encountered are busy just for the sake of being busy. It seems that certain people that I have talked to just want to be busy so that they have something to complain about. They don't have to join that extra club, or go to that party at that person's house that they don't really like, but, yet, they do, and they manage to bring it up and complain about it every time there's a break in a conversation.

Life is short and there are so many opportunities, and I can't help but to feel as if I'm missing out on something if I don't join another volunteer group, when I'm already involved in three. There are countless activities to do and clubs to join, and sometimes the FOMO (fear of missing out) takes over your brain and convinces you to do another thing when you already do five more things just like it.

The majority of high schoolers in America set their hopes on going to some form of higher level education. Four-year-colleges and university have become extremely competitive during the application process; They not only look at grades and standardized test scores, but they look at the rigor of the courses that you take. In addition to the academic aspect, they then focus in extracurricular activities. How many clubs did you do? Do you play any sports? How many leadership positions to you possess within your activities? How many volunteer hours do you have? Do you hold any academic honors?

A lot of clubs, at least the clubs that I'm involved with at my high school, are not clubs that you can show up to a handful of meetings and get full "credit" for being there. Some clubs require additional service hours in order to maintain membership, and having a leadership positions in those clubs may entail extra planning and time. It may see manageable at first, but eventually responsibilities start to pile up.

Life is a big juggling act, and not everyone can juggle, let alone juggle well. Some people may barely get by, some people may only drop a ball every now and then, and some people may as well join the circus and get paid.

It becomes competitive when you're in a group of high achieving friends. Every morning, you can hear group of friends trying to one-up each other on the As that they've received, how many meetings attended after school, and how long it took for you to crank out an essay. Early bedtimes can make you look lazing, and choosing self-care over studying even more for a test that you've already prepared for can be viewed as unmotivated.

Everyday, I see people shaking and drained because of school. All they do is complain about how busy they are, and when you ask why, all they say is, "I'm trying to get into college." The harsh reality of modern day high schoolers is that a lot of them are sacrificing their sanity for the sake of potentially getting a college acceptance letter in the future. When I was stressed anout my workload and amount of extra activities I had to do, someone told me that it will all be worth it one day. The thing is, I don't think I should be pushing myself to my breaking point and overwhelming myself just to get into college.

An important concept to remember is that no extracurricular activity is more important than yourself. My FOMO can move out of the way if that means that I get extra time to sleep and recharge after being on the grind. As cheesy as it may sound, you, and only you, comes first. I've seen people wear themselves out, damage their mental health, and lose sight of things that are more important than what they're choosing to occupy themselves with. Anxiety and lack of sleep aren't worth trying to one-up your friends.