High school is a stressful place. All around us, there is the pressure of getting good grades and all the things that have to happen for us to go to a good college. We also deal with personal anxiety regarding our friends or relationships. While our lives will never be 100% stress-free, some tips and tricks can help us to reduce our stress and focus on making the most of our teenage years. 

The biggest step in dealing with stress is acknowledging your emotions. You can only figure out ways to cope with stress if you first acknowledge that you are stressed. If you don’t, it will just build up and eventually become too overwhelming to deal with. Once you come to terms with the fact you have a problem, you have to be willing to do things to reduce this feeling. Here are some strategies you can try: 

One of the most significant ways to deal with stress is to keep your physical body healthy. Studies have shown a remarkable correlation between our physical health and our mental health. This means exercising regularly and making an effort to eat healthier. It doesn’t have to be super tricky. This can be as simple as going for a walk outside or drinking more water than usual or cutting out soda from your daily diet. 

Another simple way is to make sure to do one thing you enjoy every day. If you enjoy spending time with your friends and family, set aside some time daily to decompress by doing this. If you relax better by reading a nice book alone, create a comfy reading nook or sit outside for some quiet time. Try watching TV, shopping, or cooking if reading isn’t your thing. Make sure that you put your phone down in whatever you choose and just focus on what you’re doing. 

To deal with immediate stress, a good way to calm down is to take a breath and figure out what you’re stressed about. Picture the worst possible situation and then come up with a solution to deal with it. In most cases, you will realize that whatever you are stressing about so much is not that big of a deal, and the worst outcome isn’t even that bad and could be dealt with easily. Take a test, for example. At that moment, the stress of failing a test seems huge, but the truth is that one poor test does not mean your life is over or that you’re not going to college. In the grand scheme of things, doing poorly on one assignment or test will not make or break you. 

Overall, we all know that high school is stressful at some level for all teenagers. Some may deal with it better than others, but everyone goes through it. We hope these tips can help you enjoy and make the most of your high school days because they are days we will never get back.