I miss the times when playing around with friends and going outside were the only things that were on my mind. Not school, not projects, not homework. Unfortunately, these are the only things I seem to care for these day. I rarely go outside now, because most of my days are spent doing homework. My friends also suffer from this same illness that has taken its course around our bodies. It has taken over our lives, and all we do is stand here defenseless. Unable to fight back the thing that is eating away at us during every  second of the day.

Everything used to be fine in grade school. These were the good old times when homework wasn’t as exhausting as it is today. Kids like me spent most of our time doing just fun shenanigans, but now it feels as if these times have finally slipped away and never to be reached again. This is all because of the constant pressure and stress of school. I remember roughly about when this sudden increase in homework occurred. I feel like it all started in about the 7th grade, when honors classes were introduced to the children of my school. All the kids wanted into the class, so they could compete against their peers, not knowing about the struggles it will bring upon them later on. We as children never realized the impact of these classes and the affects that they will have on us, because once we were in the honors classes, then we were never getting out. This is due to the fact that all of our friends were in honors, and if we dropped it, then we would be separated from them. We also never dropped it, fearing that we would be left behind while our peers strove for greatness never too look back at us again.

If only we had known that during our high school years, that these honors and advanced classes would have taken a tremendous toll on us. Now, we are frozen, unable to move from the limitless stress being dropped upon us from the external pressures that come closer and closer, pinning us into a corner, and forcing us to curl up into a ball. We have no way to release this immeasurable amount of stress. We try and try, but it never goes away. Playing used to be a way to relieve our source of stress back then, but nowadays it is seen as immature. Due to this, it prevents us from venting out the constant stress building up from inside. It is as if we are a volcano that is one more homework assignment or one more test grade away from finally blowing up. If only, the view for playing was changed. Play could relieve us of all the things that make us worry. It could be the final line of defense against the constant bombardment of stress that attempt to conquer us when we are weak. If only this were the case however.