Everyone says that junior year is the most stressful year. No matter how much you try to balance your schedule to make it "stress free," junior year stress isn't really about your schedule. I realized that the stress comes from the fact that you're going to be applying to college in about a year and you need to start planning all of that out.

There are going to be a gazillion things you're going to want to do but absolutely no time for all of that. There's going to be college touring to try and find your perfect college for you, maintaining a social life, getting good grades, and of course everyone's favorite- SAT/ ACT. Everyone says it's best to finish the SAT and ACT off junior year and before senior year so it's one less worry when stressing about college applications.

Time is going to go by so fast that before you know it, you're going to be at the same stage as I am right now- only a total of 3 semesters left of ALL of high school. Then, after those 3 dreadful semesters, you're officially entered into the real world where it's time to grow up and be independent.

With all of this going on in your head and trying to juggle grades and friendships, how on earth are you expected to manage all of this? This is what junior year stress is- not the actual coursework you take during school. It's the fact that you only have a very limited amount of time living your comfortable, routine life where everything has been the same for basically your entire life so far and the day that almost every aspect of your life changes is way too close. You're expected to have your entire future for the next couple of years planned and figured out right about now since college is so close.

Junior year is also the time that you want to start perfect and cleaning up your resume and getting more involved in school, clubs, extra curriculars. It's actually pretty insane how much pressure today's world puts on a teenager even while knowing that we're still young and not fully matured/ developed yet.

So you might be wondering how do you get through it? What's the best way to overcome this junior year stress and conquer everything stress free? So far the best advice I can give is to take baby steps. Don't dive right in and get carried away because with all of the things you want to do, it can get extremely overwhelming. One day you'll be able to look back at your junior year of high school and think about this stress as just another obstacle in life that you were able to overcome.