We are getting to that point of the year where people and students are starting to give up. Whether it’s because they need a break, their grades are bad, or they are just too overworked, people are starting to give up.

This lack of motivation is being suppressed everywhere we look, and it’s not just floating among the students. Teachers are tired. While they don’t have homework, they grade all of their students. They get up just as early as we do, and have just as much on their plates. We all are tired.

This lack of motivation is highly disheartening, and as soon as one person feels it, very quickly it becomes a full blown epidemic, worse than the cold that has been floating around the building. As soon as the person sitting next to you in Pre-Calc puts away their notebook halfway through class and curls into their sweatshirt for a power nap, you find yourself wanting to do the same. As soon as you get a call from a friend after school to get a late lunch instead of doing that Pre-Calc you bailed on a few hours ago, you find yourself scrambling to get it done the next day moments before walking into class, slowly falling further behind and finding yourself even less motivated than the day previous.

It is a battle we all deal with each and every year as the clock hand ticks closer to summer, seemingly moving just a little bit to slow. Turning slower and slower each time you glance up at the second hand in the middle of Spanish class, until eventually it feels as if you will be in that class until summer itself arrives.

Keep holding on. Summer will come, but until it does, your grades still matter, your students still matter, and you still matter. The second hand will eventually hit the end of the hour, and you will make it.