"When life gives you a load of work, don't forget to relax over a cup of tea."

As life's duties multiplies, it's crucial for students to find a way to balance our lives on a scale - with work on one side and rest on the other. As human beings, we will wear down if we are constantly put into boiling water. This is my conclusion from a semester of heavy demands from school - the result from not sleeping the same amount of hours as freshman year, being active in clubs, swimming, piano, Chinese school, and helping out at church. I am one of those busy-body students who is always rushing to another subsequent event in his/her agenda. Juggling this tight-scheduled life caused me to realize that a necessary balance between work and relaxation is needed throughout high school, and beyond.

This afternoon, I received a call from one of my church friends. Once in a while, Melissa calls me and we have a really long one-on-one chat about our lives and troubles. I find it extremely refreshing to just pour out my thoughts, complaints, and anxieties to someone I'm close with, who also had a busy week. It's easy for us to connect with each other. We're both busy children (oxymoron 1). Everyone should use this form of communication with someone they know well, regardless if it's our mother, dad, g-ma, sibling, pastor, teacher . . . .

Since sophomore year began, I found my self constantly rejoicing whenever Friday arrived. I needed an oasis to retreat from my busy life. Going to church, having a conversation with a close friend at Starbuck's, or doing obnoxious things with my friends recharges my battery. Today, the need for sleep overrode my ability to move on with work, and I napped for an hour. Simple things such as the ones listed above are needs for everyone's lives.

Another focal point is that we should not let the pressure, demand, or whatever pull us down, or lose our confidence. Something I remind myself whenever I complain about the load of work awaiting me on my desk is that we're all in the same boat. Our ability to direct ourselves and renew our motivation gets us farther than those lacking this. In addition, we should "live the moment" and make memories out of every single day.

As we are tired and weary, never forget to slow down and to enjoy. We must reduce our pace in order to gain pace (oxymoron 2). In other words, we must stop working in order to keep working (oxy 3). These are oxymorons that we all live by.