FoMO: It’s something all high schoolers go through.
Many students want to be a part of everything, its FoMO, which is understandable, but because of this FoMO, students tend to put their mental health on hold.
I, for one, have fallen victim to this FoMO. Trying to do everything in ag is a struggle. I very much know that now.
Last year I was trying to juggle my three jobs, egg sales, public speaking CDE, FFA events planning committee, and trying to do every event under the sun, like district social and going to the State Capitol twice, so I could have an amazing resume for chapter officer applications.
Yet when I was not selected as an officer, I realized all the mental problems I put myself through – all the late nights, the crying, the stress – was not worth it. It wasn’t worth what I put myself through to get that position.
I enveloped myself in everything; my mother even told me she barely saw me. I would wake up at 5:30 a.m., go through school and work, usually till 8:30 p.m., and not get home till 9 p.m. Then I stayed up ‘til 12 a.m. doing my work to keep my grades up.
How many hours of sleep did I get a night? I ask myself that now. Around five hours.
Five hours was definitely not enough. On one exceptional night, I stayed up ‘til 3 a.m. studying for a big test in chemistry. I got two hours of sleep that night.
The next morning, I took the test. After I finished, I felt so sick I went to the nurse, threw up, and went home.
Those are some of the times that show doing too much can cause a deterioration in mental health.
One of our counselors at Nonnewaug High School, Stephanie Gutierrez, views students’ abilities to handle workloads differently.
”It’s honestly individualized for every student in terms of workload,” Gutierrez said. “For students who have the ability to organize and who really have those strong executive functioning skills taking on more classes or more challenging classes, [it] might not be overwhelming.”
Gutierrez shares how the times have changed from when most of our teachers were in high school.
“If we look back at past years or even back when probably most of the teachers were in high school,” Gutierrez said, “I would say students’ plates are probably a lot more filled in that way, in terms of sports, activities, working, and just their out of school requirements and responsibilities.”
So we can see it truthfully depends on the student. You may be one of those amazing people that can do it all no problem, but if you can’t, don’t push yourself.
Look out for your own health and take care of yourself.
If you’re exerting yourself so much that it really affects you so much to where your health is deteriorating, take a step back and take some time for yourself, then you should look at what you do.
Is it too much? Do you need to adjust? Then you can finally start picking things off your plate and stop the FoMO.
This is the opinion of Ashlynn Graziano, a senior reporter for the Chief Advocate.
