An Unfair Trade

This morning I was walking up to the band room with my friend and we were discussing the weird weather, humid and muggy but yet no sun. He asked me, “Did you see the fog coming down from the mountains this morning on your way to school?” I responded with, “No, I was too busy looking at my math book, trying to cram in everything for my test.” After thinking about my response I am starting to question what is really important in life. It is more important that I spend my entire car ride studying aimlessly for a math test or is it more important that I take the time to notice simple things in life like the beauty of fog in the morning. I think it is quite sad that because I was so caught up in my math textbook that I failed to notice the fog coming down from the mountains. This brings up my main question, is it all worth it? Is all the stress and work forced upon by school worth it? I mean it can’t be healthy for you either. I often feel like I am trapped in this endless pool of work and I will never be able to come up for a breath. I feel like I am missing out on the important things in life.

There are countless times when I feel like I am missing out on life because I am held back with the demands of my schoolwork and studying. Because really, what is more valuable, calculating the probability of picking 5 red face cards from a standard 52 card deck, or seeing the beauty nature has to offer? To me getting the chance to observe nature’s beauty holds much more value. I also miss out on many opportunities to spend some quality time with my friends and family and miss the chance to appreciate the simple pleasures of life because my head is almost always shoved into a book. Because of this I often find myself asking if this is a fair trade. Is fair that I miss out on many opportunities because I am trying to win the top grades? I will never forget this one time my family on my dad’s side decided to go to the beach to go swimming and have a BBQ dinner. I was so excited to spend time with all my cousins and was looking forward to playing in the sand, and holding competitions to decide who could make the nicest sand sculpture. However, I never got to spend anytime with my family because instead I was stuck at the picnic table struggling to finish my Science Celebration project proposal. In fact I did not even get to put my foot into the sand. I missed out on a special opportunity to spend some quality time with my family.

It is times like this when I question if the sacrifices I make to earn good grades are even worth it. Come on, is one imperfection in my grade record really going to kill me? When I look back on my choices I often question if academics always the real priority. I was always taught that my education comes first but is it really all worth it if I feel like I am missing out on living my life to its fullest potential?