As a high school student I feel like there is always too much to do with too little time to do it in. You always hear in movies, “How does she do it?” being asked about the character who has so much to do but gets it all done while seemingly having their life together. Let me know, does that person actually exist anywhere besides in a film reel?

I know I certainly don’t get to do everything I’d like to. Sports, grades, social status, a job, it’s pretty hard to maintain it all. I don’t even have a job at the moment and I still find it so hard to get to bed before 12:00a.m. each night.

Its fall sports season, which for me means soccer six days a week. On a practice day I don’t get home until 5:30p.m. and on a game day I don’t get home until 8:15p.m. (although this time varies a little depending on what time the game starts). If you can get a feel for this, that’s a lot of time spent out of my house after school, making me incapable of completing homework in a timely matter.

For any of my fellow athletes, you know how tired/totally unmotivated you are when you get home from an event. I mean come on, just a plain old school day by itself is exhausting. I 100% guarantee I will not be starting schoolwork or anything requiring an ounce of thought the moment I walk through my front door. It’s going to take a hearty snack and a long, steamy shower to get me functioning again.

Okay, maybe you’ve got the sports and grades routine down. Is a social life still a viable option at that point? My parents complain a lot that I am addicted to my phone and I get less sleep because of it. You know what I say to that? “Yeah, you’re right.” I do stay up at night on Snapchat and Instagram, etc.  But, after a long day of not interacting with all of my friends during school and soccer, I need some time at night to decompress and communicate with them.

Not to mention, making plans becomes a challenging task during the school year. You want to make plans for Friday? You better make sure you don’t schedule anything without giving yourself enough time to get home from practice and shower first. Oh, and if you were planning on staying up super late, just make sure you can handle an intense practice Saturday morning.

I guess high school and everything that comes with it prepares you for the real world. Real life isn’t easy. It’s exhausting and stressful, and painstaking. And yeah maybe in five years you won’t be tired because of testing or stressed about friend drama or sore because of a soccer game but it’s not getting any easier.  As for the “How does she do it?” question, I don’t think she ever really does do it all. But she does as much as she can manage and takes what she gets and that’s just what you have to do.