For some reason, I have been so nasty to my parents. I don’t even understand why. It’s like everything they do and say just annoys me and upsets me, and I lash out at them for it. Is that normal for my age? I’m 16, and an only child. Maybe I’m just sick of being the only kid in the house. Maybe its just teenage angst. Usually I am so self aware about my feelings and behavior and how they influence others and how others influence me, but lately my anger has been out of control!
To try and fix this I’ve been trying to sleep more. I think it might have to do with stress. I have very difficult classes this particular trimester (pre-calc, AP chem, AP psych, etc.) and I do tend to take my studies very seriously.
Also, I take ballet and am at the studio for about 25-30 hours per week. Trying to manage schoolwork and ballet is so challenging. This definitely adds to my stress. Since we aren’t supposed to miss classes at all, I have to cut way into my sleeping hours to do homework. It only really stresses me out when I have to miss school for dance.
Occasionally I have rehearsals and various far-away festivals to attend to during the school-day. Nutcracker (early december) and Regional Dance America (april/may) tend to be the most stressful times. When I come back, I have all the work to catch up on plus all of the lessons that I missed have to be self-taught.
When I’m feeling especially overwhelmed, I make a stress list of all the things that are cluttering up my mind. This looks like (and essentially is) a to-do list, but it also includes things that I don’t necessarily have to “do” for example “grandma in the hospital” or “nutcracker roles”.
I hope to keep my stress down so that I can be a happy person, not yell at my parents, and not constantly break out due to lack of sleep and stress eating.
Sincerely,
Madison
