With one click of a button your future has been decided. Four years of high school preparing for this moment and all it took was one click. You accepted your admission to college, the stress is over, you’re in. The relief of finally knowing your future is big, but what you didn’t realize is the struggle to finish senior year will now even be greater. All these years and months studying for exams, staying up late doing homework, doing anything you can to reach that next higher grade– it no longer matters. “Senior year will be the greatest time of your life, it will be here before you know it. Then you’ll blink your eyes and you’ll be graduating.” Is what you’ve heard since you started freshman year. But what happens when it’s not the greatest time? Or when you are simply ready to move on.

When you make your decision for your future whether it’s college, the military, or workforce, all the hard work has paid off and you can feel accomplished. But what comes with that, is feeling a lack of motivation to keep pushing through. Grades no longer matter so what’s the point of trying. You sit in class and your mind wanders elsewhere, maybe you even stop showing up to class. Friend groups aren’t as close, knowing you’ll be leaving in a few months anyways. You may be experiencing senioritis. 

Senioritis: a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance. 

So how do you stay motivated when you have no motivation? Some say they just “need to push until they get the diploma,” others don’t want to give up now after 13 good years of school. For some the motivation comes from sports, clubs, organizations, doing something to make the time they have left worth it. Maybe you’re just here because you have to be, you need to graduate so school is what you have to do. Whatever the reason is, you are here and you are pushing through, and that counts for something. 

Although “senioritis” may be seen as someone being lazy or it’s their own fault, senioritis isn’t something that you can always control. It comes from the excitement for the future, to move on and start a life of your own, away from the things you’ve always known. Sometimes it’s caused by burn out. Striving to do your best everyday for the past 13 years can lead to a lot of stress and eventually you’ll just become tired of it, it’ll be hard to keep going. Through this time it’s important to not only push through, but to focus on yourself. What you are feeling is real and it’s important to take care of yourself and your mental health. This year may be hard, and you may not feel like continuing anymore but deep down you know that you can do it.

 After 13 years you’ve made it here. You’re only months away from the day you walk across the stage and are handed your diploma. So whether senioritis is getting to you or not, continue to work. Maybe senior year hasn’t been all you expected it to be, but make the most of what’s left while you can.