The Fast and the Fearful

             Think back to the days when we were kids. We had fun running through our back yards on blistering hot summer days. We had fun kicking our legs and swinging as high as we could on our swing sets. We had fun digging in the sand box and making sand castles. Life was so simple back then. We had little to no worries, and I know you could almost always find a smile on my face. But, what has happened?

Nowadays, we are stressed out and flustered. We are exhausted and bored. We have lost our drive to be happy. Always going with work, homework, family, social life, and social media, we are moving too fast. Considering we’re still in high school, we—as students—have so much going on in our worlds. Texting and social networking have engulfed our lives. We are always going with extra activities such as sports or band. We have jobs, families, and friends. Most people barely get a chance to sit back and relax anymore.

In the little free time we get, you can find us texting or twittering which—for some people—is the only thing that brings a smile to their face in a day. Overuse of technology has been tied to depression and anxiety. In other words, it doesn’t exactly give off happy feelings. Although I absolutely love cheer, it also takes up an enormous amount of time in my life that could be spent with family or doing homework. Not to mention work, with the countless hours of standing and hearing from rude customers. After a while it all starts to wear down on you. You get stressed out which can cause sleep problems, depression, obesity and even heart disease.

“So, where’s the sentence that talks about the time we spend relaxing?” You might ask. Well, that’s a good question. Bottom line is, we are way too caught up in our lives to even remember how to relax or have fun anymore. In my opinion, we need to fix this before it is too late. We need to starting taking days off work and have chill days. We need to start turning the phones off, and go toss around a ball with the family. We need to take a day off from sports and catch up on our homework. Valuing our mental state is necessary, and we will thank ourselves in the end.