Let’s just establish something: senior year is not calm. It is not peaceful. It is not a “light workload, coasting into graduation” situation.

It is a juggling act. With fire.

So when people ask me how I’m “handling everything,” the answer is not natural talent or mysterious inner peace. It’s systems. Very unglamorous, slightly obsessive systems.

These are my actual ones.

1. The Sunday Reset

If I don’t reset on Sundays, the entire week collapses. Dramatic? Yes. Accurate? Also yes.

Sunday is when I:

• Open every single platform (Canvas, Google Classroom, email)
• Write out everything due that week
• Move it into one master list
• Panic briefly
• Then organize it into daily chunks

The magic isn’t in doing all the work. It’s in seeing it clearly. When everything lives in my head, it feels overwhelming. When it lives on paper (or Notion), it feels manageable.

Clarity = calm.

2. The “One Hard Thing” Rule

Some days you cannot conquer the world. You can, however, do one hard thing.

One hard assignment. One tough conversation. One workout you don’t want to do.

I’ve stopped expecting myself to dominate every category of life every day. If I do one genuinely uncomfortable thing, I count the day as productive. Everything else is bonus.

It keeps me from spiraling when I can’t do it all.

3. Scheduled Overachievement

This sounds ridiculous, but hear me out.

I used to try to give 110 percent at all times. Which is impossible unless you are a robot powered by espresso. So now I schedule when I go all in.

If I know I have a big presentation Thursday, I don’t also plan to deep clean my room and reorganize my entire Google Drive that week. I protect my energy like it’s a limited resource. Because it is.

You cannot sprint every day.

4. Movement as a Reset Button

If my brain feels scrambled, I move. Not because I’m disciplined. Because it works.

A run, a long walk, even blasting music in my room and pretending I’m in a coming-of-age movie. Movement shifts something neurologically. Stress hormones drop. Endorphins show up. Thoughts untangle.

Half the time I don’t need a solution. I just need circulation.

5. The “Low-Effort Joy” List

This one might be my favorite.

I keep a running list of tiny, low-effort things that make me feel like a human again. Not productive. Not impressive. Just human.

Examples:

• Driving with the windows down
• Rewatching one comfort episode of a show
• Making coffee slowly instead of chugging it
• Sitting outside for ten minutes with no phone

When everything feels high-stakes, these tiny resets matter more than they should.

6. Radical Perspective

This one is less tangible but maybe the most important.

I constantly remind myself: this season is temporary. The stress, the deadlines, the pressure — they feel massive now, but they are not permanent.

That thought doesn’t erase the workload. But it shrinks it enough to breathe.

Senior year can trick you into thinking everything is defining. Every test. Every email. Every decision.

But life is bigger than one semester. Bigger than one outcome.

Remembering that keeps me sane.

The Truth

Do I still get overwhelmed? Yes. Do I still procrastinate and spiral occasionally? Also yes.

Systems don’t eliminate stress. They just keep it from owning you.

And right now, that’s enough.

So no, I’m not effortlessly balanced. I’m just structured. Intentionally. Imperfectly. And honestly? That structure is the only reason I’m still standing.

If you’re in a chaotic season too, build systems. Even small ones. They won’t fix everything. But they will give your brain something steady to hold onto.