“They’ll be the best four years of your life.” “You’re going to wish you did so much more.” “When you look back, you’ll wish you filled up all that free time you had.”

The people that say these things obviously didn’t have the same high school experience that I’m having. These people clearly didn’t pack their schedules as much as they could, and they didn’t take part in as much as they could.

I’m doing as much as I can, and honestly, it’s kind of draining. It’s exhausting to be constantly on the move or be constantly participating in an activity. I love them all, but there is no way that I would ever wish I did more, because I am doing so much, there isn’t any room for more.

My every waking moment is filled with something. Wake up, go to school, go to music, go to rehearsal, go home, do homework, eat dinner, shower, and go to sleep. Or wake up, go to school, go to work, go home, shower, eat dinner, do homework, and go to sleep. There’s always something going on. There’s never a moment to breathe.

“You can just rest on the weekends.” “At least it’s almost the weekend.” “Just make it through the week, then you can rest up.”

Yeah, that doesn’t work either. For as busy as my weekdays are, the weekends are the same. They’re filled with rehearsals, practices, work, seeing family, and church. All things that I love, but things that add to the list of what I have to do before I can finally rest.

The list is ongoing. It never ends.

Sometimes I get to relax, or at least do something that isn’t stressful. Sometimes I get to hang out with my friends or go out to eat with my family. But I just think about what I could be doing instead, or what I still have to do. It never ends.

It’s one thing after the other, a never-ending, constant stream of activities. Did I choose to participate in all of them? Yes. Do I regret any of them? No. But I do regret being as involved as I am in each activity that I do. I try my best to put my heart and soul into everything, and if I didn’t do that maybe I wouldn’t be so tired.

If I didn’t stay after work to help my friend do evaluations, or if I didn’t go to every rehearsal despite not being needed at every one, if I didn’t go to church every week, maybe I wouldn’t be so drained. But I want to leave an impact on everything that I do, and I can’t achieve that if I don’t go above and beyond.

I want to do as much as possible in the four years that I am in high school, which is why I am doing all of these things. But I wouldn’t ever recommend to anyone to be as involved as I am in. Because I am always tired, and I always wish that I had time to rest or take a break.

But I also don’t regret anything, because I love all of the things that I am doing, and they all give me so much happiness. I love them all despite how much they take out of me. I don’t regret anything.