I am an absolute pro at stressing over the smallest things. Lying in bed at night, I will stress about what shoes I will wear with my outfit and wondering if they will match. There’s no need to worry about that at 12 am, but that’s just what I do. I will also sit in class and stress about all the things I need to get done that day, when I can’t do anything about it right then.

Over the years I’ve learned that sometimes you just have to let go. This can be letting go of a class that is just too much, letting go of a task on your to-do list or letting go of a friend that isn’t much of a friend anymore. It’s important to learn this lesson before life gets to be too much.

My wise dad has always taught me to keep the balance. I’m grateful to have learned this lesson young, because it’s saved me from having extra stress in my life. Whenever I was stressing over all the homework I had to do, even though I’d been working on homework all day, he would come in my room and say, “Remember to keep the balance kid”. This can be taken in various ways. Sometimes it meant a five-minute break and other times it meant to go hang out with my friends for the night. It’s all about making sure your life is balanced and you’re not stressing yourself out too much.

Keeping the balance is just like letting go. Sometimes you have to let go of that homework assignment because you’re just so exhausted. There have been so many nights where I’m burnt out from school work that I wouldn’t do an assignment because I physically couldn’t do anymore. I was so worried that because of missing that one assignment, I would be a failure in life. Here I am, years later, and I’m doing just fine.

Letting go of a friend can be hard. You love them and don’t want to end a friendship, but some friendships are more bad than good. When a friendship becomes draining to you, it needs to end. There is no reason to hurt and be used in a friendship. Letting go of a friend can sometimes be the best thing you can do for yourself. It’s okay to be selfish sometimes because you need to take care of yourself.

The most important thing to remember is to take care of yourself. Being aware of the situations you’re in and how you react to these situations is the first step to being a better person. Letting go of that assignment that is stressing you out to the point that you want to cry or quitting the sports team because it’s more stress than fun is an important lesson to learn. Cutting out the things that are holding you back from being the best you can be will benefit you in the long run, and will make life easier.