I am more than happy about the fact that I get the opportunity to attend FHC and participate in sports, clubs, and more. Living in this community and being a student at one of the best schools in the country is a chance only some individuals get. I am more than thankful for everything I have here at FHC. But, with all of this FHC pride and all of these FHC standards, I find it challenging to keep up. The immense pressure to balance my school and sport life drains me.

Every school day, I go to school feeling even more exhausted than the previous day. I complete the same work over and over again, all of it being work that I could not care less about. I work as hard as possible in school just to go home and do more work. It feels like a job. 

Generally, I never finish my work in time for my practice. I end up with a large amount of work to do after I work as hard as possible at my other job: my sport. My practice ends at nine o’clock, I get home around twenty minutes later, and I still need to shower, eat, and get ready for the next day. 

It feels like a constant sprint through my life. I feel as if there is never a break in my day, and there is never enough time for me to simply breathe. 

Nobody talks about this enough. There is such a stigma behind it; students at FHC need to be picture-perfect. Each day, I question if I should choose to focus on my physical and mental health, or if I should put all of my effort and energy into sports and school. Choosing my health will deem me a failure in the eyes of the individuals deemed “more tough.” 

It feels as if I live the same day again and again. I worry that I will never fill these standards of perfection. It is expected of me to balance my life perfectly. I am supposed to receive brilliant grades and perform amazingly in my sports. The truth is, no student-athlete is perfect. The standards that are set for everybody at FHC are dramatically unrealistic. Students should be able to choose things that benefit us and are better for us. If an athlete is sick, he or she should be allowed to take a day off without feeling ashamed.

It is not wrong to take a second to breathe and just live. We are still young and learning how to get through life. After all, we have our entire lives in front of us and need to rest up for the long journey ahead.