Term 2

I am currently halfway through Week Two of Term Two and I can certainly feel the pressure starting to escalate. Everyone says the step up from Year 10 to Year 11 is big, but I hardly noticed it last term. That's either because I wasn't getting a lot of homework, or, the more likely option, I just wasn't do my homework.

I have already been given three assessment tasks and they are all due in a few weeks, as well as one I had to do over the holidays, but didn't. I also have been getting more homework and this time I am actually doing it.

I got relatively good results in my exams that I did last term. All my results were relatively average. I aced Design & Technology and failed English, but I don't particular care because I was totally expecting worse than what I actually got. To quote from my favourite movie of all time, Clueless, "these grades are only a jumping up point", and that's exactly how I see them. Room for improvement, if you will.

I am not really the type to get stressed out over anything. School and exams don't stress me out as much as they should, but I'm glad they don't, because I don't think I'd cope well under pressure during exam week. However, the other day I was in some crazy OCD mood and I washed up all the dishes and saucepans that were in the sink. I turned on the dishwasher and then I cleaned every single surface in the kitchen with Ajax. Seriously, every marble bench top. I also cleaned the stove top completely. I just brushed it off as a weird OCD mood, but when I brought it up today to my friend in Year 12, she told me that it was an anxiety thing.

When I think about it, I can totally see where she's coming from. My workload has slowly been increasing and all my assessments are starting to freak me out a little bit. I really don't know how well I will cope with the HSC next year and the pressure I'll most likely put on myself to get a high ATAR. I just don't want to be so stressed that I freak out and have a total mental breakdown. All I can do is hope to be calm and focused, and work on creating a stress-free environment for myself.

I'm getting a headache just thinking about this! It's so crazy how stressful next year will be, but after that I will be free for a few months... and then I go to University, which could potentially stress me out even more!

Well, only time will tell....