In order to maintain my mental health, I provide myself with distributive practices to manage academic workloads throughout the day. I am currently a senior in high school, meaning that compared to other undergraduate students, I have other specific priorities that I must be responsible for. Taking time off classes to pursue my efforts in college applications and scholarships has become a significant part of my daily and weekly routines. Managing my coursework while enforcing a well-balanced sleep schedule will not fatigue my mental health, but rather sustain me with full motivation to get going with my day. I try to sleep by 10:30 pm every night and wake up by 6:30 am before school, allowing myself 8 hours of sleep per night. I attempt to provide myself as much time as possible to rest, to prepare me for any possible lectures or discussions with classmates requiring a vast attention span. Additionally, I enforce myself a daily goal to complete at least two school assignments a day before leaving school and getting on with my extraciriucllars. This will grant me leeway throughout the night to help me get more sleep. Maintaining my physical health has required the most effort and discipline. I visit public gyms three times a week to work on my strength conditioning for my body. Visiting the gym is not only a method to sustain peak physical health, but is also utilized as a learning tool to teach essential work habits. The gym is used as a method of therapy to disregard any stresses throughout the day that may have been affecting my mental health. The gym also teaches me discipline. Achieving one's desired physical body may take several months to years with the correct diet, meaning that patience is required to help sustain motivation for such a goal. Greater discipline teaches people that practicing a skill may take time but it helps them realize that positive results are always on the rise. In addition, in the next coming weeks, I will be trying out for the track team. Every other day I do not visit the gym, I run outside for 45 minutes. On average, I run for five miles, three days a week. I provide myself with one day of rest per week to account for muscle recovery. I spend most of my time in these days icing my body or swimming by my local apartment pool. Lastly, maintaining my nutritional health is of the most importance to sustain greater rates of mental and physical strides before and after the school day. I do not count calories within my diet, as it may contribute to stress, guilt, and confusion about the amount of food one may be consuming. I manage my diet by first eating a small breakfast before school to motivate me throughout my day. This breakfast has to be of some nutritional value, whether packed with proteins or natural sugars to accompany my morning, like a smoothie, protein shake, omelet, or a possible peanut butter toast. I do not consume larger breakfast meals because it enforces guilty eating habits throughout the rest of the day. In order to manage any signs of overeating, I feel I can start my meals smaller to allow myself leeway to eat more filling meals throughout the day. A few hours later, I come home from school and eat lunch. I typically prioritize my lunch with lean meat like chicken or salmon and surround it with vegetables and carbohydrates. Additionally, like lunch, I follow the same procedure with my dinner, then allow myself only one dessert per day.

What forges mental health to become so significant in high schoolers' daily lives is their emotional state, which enforces a student's work ethic throughout their whole school day. Those who are diagnosed with mental health-related conflicts such as depression or anxiety become distracted by the important tasks at hand they are required to complete. In some situations, a student may study for hours throughout the day before an upcoming test, yet the tragedies that are ongoing throughout their minds lower their rates of focus. Thus, the inclination towards applying effort academically is rather disregarded than paying attention. Diseases like chronic depression are a result of past difficulties that students may have not been able to endure. This can be accounted for student-athletes who miss football tryouts and do not make the team, or miss their senior seasons due to a long-term injury. Setbacks in students' academic life and extracurricular interests are major influences towards damaging one's mental health. With a drastic shift in emotions in the span of hours, young adults like high school students are not able to adapt to such environments properly and are unable to control their emotions. I feel very strongly about this particular topic, as I am a prime example of recovering back my mental health. I have always loved playing soccer since my early childhood and planned to pursue the sport for the rest of high school. In my upcoming senior year, I was thrilled about the possible opportunities past my high school experience that I may receive as well as the recognition for my past athletics contributions. However, before the week of tryouts, a new coach was announced. He approached our game tactics differently and throughout the week I had not been accustomed to his style of coaching. As a result, I did not make the cut. I sobbed in my bedroom the night I received an email informing me that I did not make the soccer team in my senior year, out of all years of high school. I felt distraught that he would not even approach me in person to deliver me the heartbreaking news. Due to this alteration in my life, I developed a stint of depression. Watching teammates who I have played soccer with my whole life, represent our school without me broke my spirit. I could not even gain the courage to come to a soccer game and support my friends. I deleted all my social media to prevent myself from seeing any posts online about the season. After the night I received the news, I could not even come to school for a whole week. I realized I had to overcome this failure and push past my mental boundaries. In response, I knew I had to maintain wellness of mental health. I did so by practicing time management and pursuing other interests to keep me company. It has helped me recover to the point where I now feel comfortable discussing my previous difficulties in maintaining a positive brand of mental health. By pursuing newer interests, I helped motivate myself to prove to the antagonists who doubted me, like my soccer coaches. I shifted my focus towards writing music to convey my feelings to a wider relatable audience. I did so because of my past musical background within my family. I now go to the gym every other day to teach the importance of discipline when taking care of my physical health. As of today, I am now weeks ready before trying out for the track team. Mental health will serve as a distraction but can be overcome.