By Sam Campbell

1. Do not overload yourself. Especially at Tempe Prep, there are a lot of expectations for all of the students. As you go through school, do not take more than you can hold. Participate in clubs, but do not try to participate in all of them. Believe it or not, having a bit a free time is okay. Give yourself some breaks after you have done a good amount of work.
2. Get sleep. This is mentioned often, but that is because it is very important. Lack of sleep makes it harder to stay awake in class where you could miss important information. Get at least 6 hours of sleep a night and shoot for 8-ish. Naps are ok, but when too frequent or too long, these naps can damage your sleeping cycle.
3. Prioritize. With the thousands of small decisions and the dozens of important decisions we have to make, how do you choose which decisions should be prioritized? A good way to think about it is on the basis of good, better or best choices. You do not need to choose the best choice every time, but the best choices should be the choices with the highest priority. There is no exact scale of how to prioritize, but you need to sit down and really think for yourself about the good, better, and best decisions you make. As you prioritize the best decisions, you help alleviate unnecessary stress.
4. Try relaxation techniques. There are many ways to physically relax yourself, some included: yoga, exercise, meditation, reading, or deep breaths. Do whatever helps you feel the most relaxed, but be sure to leave time for the things you need to do, such as your schoolwork. Just once, when you feel stressed, go to YouTube and search up “15-minute meditation: Body scan.” Walk-through meditations, such as this one, help bring self-awareness and peacefulness.
5. Talk to someone. With so much going on, having the opportunity to vent is an amazing thing. Find someone that can sit down with you and just listen. Too often we have bottled up emotions and feelings and having someone to confide in is amazing. Like all things though, do not vent too much. It is time consuming and annoying to the person listening. Also, be careful not to become overly negative. Venting is ok, but as much as possible try to see the glass as half full. This leads directly into my next point which is…
6. Think positively. It is natural to get stressed or angry at things that we do not like, but I will argue, no matter what, that there is at least one positive thing within each experience we have. You must look for the silver lining so that you do not end up bringing yourself down. As bad things happen, try to find the good from the situation. If you can learn to enjoy things in life you have to do, like homework, then everything is less stressful. But how do learn to enjoy something like homework?
7. Learn to enjoy school work. There is no exact answer, but you can definitely discover some ways if you really think. Maybe it is listening to your favorite music while you do science reading, or maybe it is adding a stitch to your quilt every time you finish 3 math problems. Maybe it is typing your essay and every time you finish a paragraph you let yourself look at Instagram for 10 minutes. Like homework, also discover what makes every day school fun. Talk to your friends during breaks, read the books so you can have fun discussions, or annotate your primary source documents in a bunch of fancy colors. Find your own ways to enjoy school.
8. Ask questions. When you do not understand a topic being taught, ask clarifying questions. If you are not paying attention in class and do not understand, that is your fault. Moving through a class and not understanding something can be damaging as the teacher adds on to the material you were already supposed to know. When you do not understand something, you are often more stressed and worried. Along with this, go in for tutoring. Your teachers can explain to you concepts you did not understand.
9. Have a fun holiday break!!