Balance Is One Thing I Did Not Have My Sophomore Year Of College

The last semester was a very challenging semester for me emotionally, physically, and mentally. I had recently had a change in my relationship status and was left alone to pay all the bills. The full-time schedule made it difficult for me to pick up hours at work. Being a single mother of three children, this had devastating consequences on my family financially. By mid-semester I was forced to work third shift and weekends to try to compensate for the wages I was losing. This dramatically

Over the last year the balancing of college life and personal life became over whelming. It started

My journey through undergrad was similar to a flight going through a lot of turbulence. I came in knowing what I had to do, make Good grades, shadow doctors, and volunteer/participate in community service. However, there were a lot of trials and tribulations. It was not until after my freshman year when I hit rock bottom academically that my whole world

dealing with both school and work and balancing paying for bills and even rent. By having the

Being a busy person, I had to learn how to balance everything. When I got into junior high my parents always encouraged me to be involved in school activities because they thought it would keep me out of trouble, so I joined cross-country, band, and football. It was hard to keep up with everything at times, and my school work

One of the hardest things I have ever done is balance my school, sports, and organizations. Throughout my life I have been pushed to be the greatest and in result, never settled for anything less than perfect. This is true for both school work and athletics. Since my freshman year I have worked for good grades and ended up with nearly perfect grades, which resulted in a grade point average of a 3.927. I have earned this GPA while balancing volleyball, basketball, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) , Yearbook, National Honor Society (NHS), Honor Roll, the Drama Department, Math Team,Student Council, Class officer and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD).

My life was suddenly changing right before one of the biggest changes: high school. I had more things to worry about than other high schoolers. I had to figure out how I was going to get home, how I was going to get the house clean before my mom got home, how I was going to get dinner started, all on top of getting my homework done. Due to this, I wasn’t as serious with my grades. I let them fall even though I knew I could do better. I was just way too busy to focus on school when there were more important things to focus on- my family. I slowly found out how to balance everything to get my grades up. I had to learn how to balance my life to make myself happy while keeping up my

Looking at school, I had an okay first semester. I started the morning with Algebra II and photography, which was a class I really enjoyed. Then my advisory is with the ASB officers and we either do homework or we talk about events we are planning for our school in the future. From lunch, I had AP U.S. History and then I'm a TA (teacher's assistant) for my mom and then go to yoga. Seems like I had an easy semester at first. Nevertheless, that was my feeling until the second semester came. I now have three hard classes in a row. That includes pre-calc and this class, Honor's English III, along with my AP U.S. History. I still TA for my mom and have yoga, but those three hard classes make academics a little

I good balance, to me, is very important. I plan to do this the same way I have so far in my career, I will manage my time. By accounting my time to the things that matter and prioritizing (similar to what was discussed in the seven habits) I am confidence I can meet my objectives in the different areas of my life while at the same time never stopping my growth and learning.

Throughout the semester I have faced many difficult and different challenges. One major challenge has been to be acting as a single parent again. Recently my husband left for another deployment which has left me alone to care for our children. It has become my sole responsibility to take care of our children and transport them to and from daycare. I also have to make sure I have childcare lined up if I pick up shifts at work. Another thing that has fallen on my shoulders is the responsibility of all of the housework. Instead of having my husband's help with cleaning and putting laundry away, I now have to rely on myself, which I hate. Another challenge I have faced this semester is getting back into a good school routine. When I left high school

Going from being a full time student to balancing my grades and my job was a very difficult transition for me. Junior year tends to be the hardest academic year for high schoolers and suddenly I lost four hours of my time. I would come home exhausted and struggled to keep my grades up to the standard of my parents. However, I am a very determined student and I forced myself to find a balance between the two. I would stay up longer hours or study during lunch time in order to make up for the time I lost. It was a hard transition, but a transition that helped me realize what adulthood would be like.

The end of my Sophomore year was the worst time of my entire life and the main cause of my beliefs and ideas of myself. Depression hit me hard and fast like being in the two minute and twelve-second knockout boxing match with Muhammad Ali, but gratefully received help from my family, school, and a special someone. It played a massive role in my effectiveness in school work and social life, but that became the start of what I would call a blessing. Motivation and ambition came quickly after the second semester after months of pressure and love from others who I am proud to call family and friends.

Being young and tied up with high school and college is just one big hurricane waiting to happen. Sometimes I wake up and ask myself why am I doing the things I have done or are going to do but I bite my lip and keep moving forward. Growing up fast is very hard and can put a lot of stress on your back, but I got to keep in mind what my future will be like if I continue going the path I am now. I'm doing this for myself and also to prove a point to my family that no matter what happens or what life throws at you I can manage my way through it. My life is not as easy as I make it out to look from working with my dad, going to Union County Early College and wanting to become a nurse, my life is all over the place.

If these last three years of middle school taught us anything it is that balance is very important in not only school but also in life. With having to deal with academics, sports, friends and extracurricular activities it is very easy to get lost in knowing

As the year draws to a close, I reflect on what I have accomplished in my first semester of college. Not only have I grown as a writer but also as a person. This year was full of changes but I am glad that I remained steadfast in my beliefs and skills. While I learned things about myself in this course I also gained important writing and research skills.