Just Breathe by Abigail

Just Breathe by Abigail - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

Everyone dreams of the day they will start senior year and have the time of their lives, but what happens when you get to that time and all you can think about is all the other activities and responsibilities that must be accomplished? We get so caught up in our day-to-day life that we forget to just breathe and take time for ourselves. Everything else seems to be so important at the time that we forget to have fun and enjoy everything for ourselves in our final moments of high school.

Going into junior year, I was so excited to get it all over with and ready to get to my senior year of high school. I did everything possible to make it go by quickly. Working long hours after school, taking a full load of classes, and balancing time for my dual enrollment classes, the time flew by quickly. Now I have all my high school credits and am starting my senior year and I am honestly quite exhausted. Hardly ever having any time for myself, I constantly must remind myself to slow down and breathe. My life has literally flown by in the blink of an eye and now that I have finally reached my goal to be a senior, I cannot even begin to imagine what to do.

If I had the chance to go back and give my younger self advice, I would say enjoy the smaller things in life and take time for myself, but most importantly, breathe. When everything feels like it is moving just a little bit fast, just stop and take a moment to breathe and enjoy yourself no matter what the situation is. This is a piece of advice I have been thinking about and cherishing for my upcoming days as a senior, and I will forever wish I would have realized it sooner on in my life. Looking back, there could have been endless possibilities for memories to be made, but all I have now is how quickly I forced all the time to go by.