It’s that time of the year, and it’s harder than ever to find the motivation to go to bed early, and more importantly, the motivation to get up on time.

Like myself, many students find extracurricular activities to do, and work takes up much of your night. Getting any time of social social life, homework, etc. is impossible anymore; but that doesn’t stop the Elder kids.

I always thought that sleep was important, but I’ve quickly realized that if I’m getting around four hours of sleep daily, I’m golden. Many can attest for that, and they all relatively speak the same, that sleep is no part of their life anymore.

Some think that it’s essential, and I just can’t seem to grasp it at the moment. I’m more concerned with watching Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and scrolling through Instagram. There’s a critical schedule that I must follow when I arrive home, which I will keep to myself, but nonetheless it must all be done.

With work, I’m pulling in my drive way around 11:30 on average, and to be honest that’s not to bad. The homework that needs to be done always pops into my head, and it just simply does not get done. Study Hall is critical in my academics, and without it I think I’d be failing three classes. On the other hand, I’m sleeping half the time because of the sleep deprivation at home.

Focusing in on school and work is hard, and to be honest I was never fully into any of it to begin with. My fellow co-worker, Lucas Downey, throws his input in here and says, “I don’t sleep anymore. I grind everyday. because I love what I do.” No surprise there, Lucas is either driving his dope Civic to softball, or playing with his hair at his girlfriend’s house till the sun goes down. But all respect to him.

All teachers say keep the grades up, and don’t just blow off your last couple quarters of senior year, but the more they speak of that, the more I’m inclined to do what they say not to. It’s simple. A little reverse psychology tells me to blow it off, and that’s exactly what i’m doing. I put some effort into my grades, and on a scale from 1-10, I’d say I’d be putting a measly 2. The motivation is just not there, and I blame sleeping fully. Nino Salamone knows this exact feeling, stating, “This time of the year is always a grind, especially for seniors…. schoolwork is pointless and with everything going on right now, nobody has time for it (sleep)…. I don’t get to bed until around 1 A.M. and waking up 6 hours later is just brutal.”

The school year is quickly approaching the end, and I see myself and others only getting worse with the senioritis. I see later nights in my future, and more and more struggles getting to school. But mark my word, I will make it. I will get through these hard times and soon enough be finding myself catching up on my sleeping, for some nights, I’m anticipating 10+ hours of peaceful, and relaxing sleep.