This I have learned

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     Throughout high school I have always been concerned with what comes next. How far ahead I looked differed but I always seemed to be looking ahead. "I have homework due tonight", "I have a test in a week", "I have AP tests in a month". Even summers, although I was a lot more relaxed, I still took summer school or I was studying for the ACT/SAT. 

    By always looking ahead, I was not able to really live in the present. The days seemed to blur together as I moved from one assignment to one assignment and studying from one test to another. Reflecting back on it, I believe the greatest lesson high school taught me was that stressing for something makes it seem worse than it is. Sometimes I would be so worried about a test or quiz but when I took it I found it surprisingly easy. I had spent a great amount of time worrying for nothing. 

    Rather than always focusing on the endpoint, focusing on the journey is more important. You can't control how difficult a test will be but if you spend each day just studying a little, you will be prepared enough not to worry. Since switching my focus to daily wins, such as completing a section of review, I have found myself to be more happy and carefree than in past years with the AP tests coming up. I will continue to take this idea of taking each day at a time with me throughout my life and I am grateful to my high school experiences for showing me that stressing about the end goal just makes the goal harder. 

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