Being consumed by the pressures of high school was, unfortunately, a reality for me during my freshman and sophomore years. Too focused on maintaining ideal grades, I failed to balance academic life with extracurricular life and was ultimately unsatisfied. Balance, I have learned (as well as proved with the help of therapists), is most nearly the key to satisfaction, which almost directly leads to happiness.
Eventually my unsatisfied feelings caught up with me. Something was missing from my life. This “something,” I knew, had to save me from the inevitable slump I was falling into. Not being involved at my school while at the same time watching others flourish in their passions for sports, volunteering, art and more did not help my depression at all.
For some people it’s volunteering that really gets their blood -- and school spirit -- pumping. Key Club and National Honor Society are always great options. For others, the stage comes beckoning. But for some people, like me, it was athletics.
It just so happened that I stumbled upon the missing part of me in tack and field. That something I had been so desperately searching for was running.
My first track practice nearly scared me half to death. These people are crazy, I thought to myself after what seemed like hundreds of laps around the track coupled with snaking intervals up and down the bleachers.
But as my pathetically heavy breathing settled, I realized how amazing I felt -- not only due to the undeniable feeling of accomplishment at actually surviving such a workout, but also because I was part of something, part of my school.
This feeling of contributing to your high school community can be achieved through numerous other ventures as well. People report feeling a sense of connection with their school through their extracurricular activities by making friends, helping others and knowing that they are contributing to the uniqueness of their school.
And so, after my first encounter with the sport of track, my crazy, stubborn, persistent relationship with running began. I started running more and more, and noticed a change in myself that I never thought I would experience. Running put me in a sort of meditative state -- a zone where I was no longer concerned with any stressor that may have been tearing at me.
When running I wasn’t a student who had a million papers to finish. I wasn’t the irresponsible daughter that hadn’t managed to fold all her laundry. I was someone just trying to make it at least to that next light pole. I was someone caught up in my own precious rhythm of breath, step, breath, step. I was someone simply running.
Running has proven to me exactly how far I can push myself and what amazing results can occur with a little sweat perseverance. But, most importantly, it has proven to me the kind of positive person I can be. Students should not simply be searching for another activity to slide onto a college application when they consider an extracurricular endeavor. When we put our personal interests in mind, we can discover true passions that had been waiting right in our own schools.
My experiences with running can be discovered in any other activity that we, as high school students, have the freedom to explore. These activities are not just great places to make friends and great lines to add to college applications. They can help us find a passion that may ultimately change our lives.