As the school year goes on we all have phases of busyness – we all have the days, weeks, and or months that feel like they are never going to end, the times when we see no light at the end of the tunnel, where we feel as though this craziness will go on forever. This is just a glimpse of one of the many ways students at the high school can experience mental health challenges.
Mental health permeates the lives of many students at the high school. Students have to overcome many invisible hurdles every day, such as balancing extracurriculars with academics, social anxieties, battling overwhelming feelings, family conflicts, and many more unseen challenges. As the year continues it is important to raise awareness about these mental health struggles and be wary of your own well-being, as well as the well-being of those around you.
Senior, Alice Czechowskyj has struggled with her mental health for nearly her whole life. She deals with things, such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety, and depression. She balances her work as a barista at Starbucks, extracurriculars, and school year-round. These mental struggles are prevalent in her day-to-day life outside of school. It ends up impacting many aspects of life including her place of work and her social life.
“It affects my ability to have friends, maintain relationships, my family dynamic, and at my job a lot. I get really anxious about doing all the right things and making the drinks right, and I get really anxious when customers yell at me,” Czechowskyj said.
Finding a rhythm during your busy season can be difficult, especially when losing sleep and time to yourself. Czechowskyj can see the positive and negative impacts of extracurricular activities. They can bring you out of hard times but can also put you in them.
“Extracurriculars definitely get you out of the house, and they have you around good people. But then you’re worried about homework, and if you have time to do things. You don’t have as much time to decompress. So I think you just have to find the balance between those two things,” Czechowskyj said.
Mental health struggles are easier to mask than some would think. Czechowskyj has had experience with hiding under a mask and understands the feeling of alienation. It is a draining experience to always have to put on a happy face for those around you even if you are the one struggling.
“I think mental health is really easy to cover up sometimes. I was going through it freshman year, but I’ve talked to so many people that had no idea that that was even going on. Obviously, you’ll have your people that understand, but I think it’s way easier to cover up than people expect,” Czechowskyj said. “You just have to have empathy for people, even if you don’t understand what’s happening.”
Mental health is something we must be aware of, especially at this vulnerable time in high school. As Czechowskyj noted, it is easy to hide under a smile that does no justice to represent your own state of well-being.
Czechowskyj sees the importance of surrounding yourself with people that uplift you and focusing on the good, rather than highlighting the bad. High school can be hard and many struggle through it, but no one is alone.
“It will get better. You will find what works the best for you, and sometimes it feels really like this tunnel that you’re just falling down, but the less you can focus on the bottom and focus more on getting back out, I think is better,” Czechowskyj said. “There are a bunch of people at this school that have probably struggled with the same thing and come out on the other side, who are willing to help you or talk about it with you. You just have to find your people, and just know that it will be okay.”
Counselor Dion Charity at the high school has worked here for . He has worked with a vast array of students. Charity does more than just schedules, he serves as a support for students that are struggling, and helps them get back on track, mentally and academically. Charity sees a common ground for students struggling with self confidence.
“I think kids don’t believe in themselves, that they can overcome adversity,” Charity said.
Charity sees the similarities between students’ struggles but also the incomparability of each student and their situation. He encourages students to reach out for help and find resources that work for them to get back on track.
“If you do not know who to find, come to the counseling office and explain your situation, because you are unique. At the same time, there is a lot of commonality that that student may have amongst other students, but you are still unique in your own way, and we want to try to help you as best as possible,” Charity said.
Sara Whipple has been working at the high school for 17 years. She has served many roles at the high school, all of which have involved working closely with students and being a safe and reliable space for them. Whipple has seen the changes that happen throughout the school year as students’ mindsets are constantly changing and schedules are being readjusted.
“In the beginning of the year, you’re getting a lot of nervousness more than anxiety or panic. It’s more nervous because it’s the unknown. The new students, the freshmen, things like that as they get older, It’s not so much nervousness, it’s more anxiety of grades and the pressure that comes along with that, and then trying to juggle jobs, and your schedule,” Whipple said.
Whipple has seen the ways that overwhelming schedules affect students and their well-being; she can acknowledge the importance of learning to set boundaries and limit yourself to the important things.
“You can’t handle it always. It’s okay to say no to something, It’s okay to tell your friends ‘not tonight’ because you just want to sleep. It’s okay to be with yourself and just kind of breathe a little bit. You don’t have to do everything all the time,” Whipple said.
Whipple knows that every single person in this school is dealing with something different and it is important to acknowledge that.
“Nobody’s perfect. Even if my struggles aren’t as significant as somebody else’s struggles, it doesn’t mean I’m not struggling. There’s not a single person who hasn’t had a bad day,” Whipple said.
As we walk through the hallways it is important to have empathy for those around us, to realize that everyone has something they are dealing with, and comparison will get us nowhere.
While you go through the school year, remember to take time for yourself, to have empathy and understanding for others, to reach out if you are struggling and to lean on others for support as well as support those around you. Mental health struggles are not something to be taken lightly, it is something that takes endurance and strength to acknowledge and heal from, so give others grace, you never know what is going on behind the scenes of someone’s life.
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