When you sit through endless hours of classes learning nothing about how to do taxes or how to take out a mortgage and can only recall that “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell”;

when you use humor to cover the fact that you got a 60 on your last test and you need to bury your disappointment;

when you see mountains upon mountains of drama and rumors unfold on your very doorstep, seeping in through the cracks of the wooden door to your self esteem, and yet you expected to turn away and ignore it;

when your self respect and expression gets trampled, stomped, and mutilated by administrators because following a dress code matters more than own comfortability in the eyes of the school board, and wearing a short enough crop top means you’re “exposing too much of yourself and your body” when in actuality we should be asking the question: “why were you, an adult, looking in the first place?”, and wearing a short skirt will be distracting to the classroom but the boys that are supposedly “distracted” are close to nonexistent, and wearing a hat indoors becomes disrespectful but then it becomes too much of a hassle to bother anyways;

when you’re very best is merely subpar in eyes of college admissions;

when you have to creatively come up with an excuse as to “Why you didn’t do your homework”, because you were too tired to move last night and just wanted to sleep;

when you are attacked, berated, and called “woke” or “sensitive” by your own peers for acknowledging and addressing bigotry and hate;

when at the end of your 4 year “experience” or rather, sentence, you get to look at everything you’ve accomplished and still feel horrible because you didn’t get into your dream college despite sacrificing your own body for your final transcript;

when your Grade Point Average (GPA) is worth more than your own identity;

when you actively choose a test over a well regulated sleep schedule;

— then you will understand why Highschool students feel so burnt out.