Name: Column Writing

Put on a fake face and smile.

That’s what I had been doing the first semester of ninth grade. The stress had finally gotten to
me. Never in my life have I had that much stress.

Going to school for 8 hours, staying after school until 7:30 pm for band, getting home at 8
o’clock, doing homework until 10. Then laying in bed trying to sleep but I just can’t. I was always
busy thinking about a test the next day or how behind I am. Or how I will repeat the same thing I
did today in a couple more hours. 5 hours of sleep is not good enough.

Ever since I heard the band play when I was little, I had wanted to be in the marching band. So
when I joined in High school, I was so excited. I just wish I knew how much work it was before I
joined.

My grades were dropping and school in general was just getting harder to handle. The only time
to breathe I ever got was the weekend and even then I still had work to do. I didn’t think it was
affecting me that bad until the constant sadness began. I would cry almost every single night. I
started losing interest in things that I used to love. Playing guitar, drawing, painting. All of it
made me sad.

I tried talking about it to people, but most people say that you're being dramatic when you talk to
them about that type of thing. “Everyone gets stressed sometimes,” Is what they would say. That
is true, but some people handle stress differently than others.

I felt trapped. I was so attached to the band because I've been doing it since 6th grade, but I
knew that if I kept doing it, my sadness would just get worse and worse.

That’s why I have decided to quit next school year.

I want to do new things. Like get a job, start driving, join new activities. And the marching band
was taking up too much time to do any of that.

I have been so much better this semester and I have gotten better grades. I am looking forward
to next year when I can try new things and have time to go out and get a real job and make my
own money.

That whole time, I had been acting fine at school. Always smiling, laughing, and pretending to
be happy, but deep down, that was the most unhappy I had ever been. Don’t think that just
because someone acts happy and is always smiling means they are stress free people.
Everyone has their own secrets. You only really know someone’s name. Not their story.
Name: Column Writing