In extremely competitive schools like PHS, students often prioritize their academics at the expense of everything else. For the most part, this sounds completely rational. In fact, it sounds like a good thing that most students here care about getting good grades. But we cross the line when we value academic success over our physical health. In a regular school year, many of us are all too familiar with going to school even when we’re sick. Despite runny noses and dry coughs, we force our exhausted bodies from class to class because we fear an absence, or worse, missing out on an entire day of classwork. The thought of returning from a sick day to the pile of work awaiting us on teachers’ desks is a fear so paralyzing that students subject themselves to long school days, even when this means that they are hurting themselves and everyone around them.

Now, school goes on as usual, but it seems as though a PHS student gets COVID every week. And whether or not we have gotten sick ourselves or have just been affected by the mental and physical strain of online learning, every student has felt the impact of our new lives on our bodies. From the migraines we get by staring at our screens all day to the mental fatigue of the monotony of jumping from Zoom call to Zoom call, the once-familiar physical exhaustion of a common cold has been joined by a variety of new illnesses reflective of our new reality. And just because our problems may look different doesn’t make them any less valid. With the even greater blurring of our school and home lives, we have to be more careful with our bodies. Too many overly tired students choose to attend class, and it’s a trend that’s made much easier when all we have to do is log into class and turn our screens off. Yet what do we gain from doing these things? We’re only making ourselves sicker in hopes of keeping up with schoolwork, but it’s far easier to rest first and then make up late work, especially during a time when most teachers record their classes and post materials on their class pages. Though it’s tempting to stay up and complete the work, we end up setting ourselves up for long-term failure.

We need to care more about ourselves and our health. In such volatile and ever-changing times, we must prioritize our own well-being before we get swept up in the chaos. This all begins with dismantling our fear of missing a day of school and our fear of that dreaded pile of make-up work, a lesson that we need to remember even once life returns to normal. It really isn’t that deep. Missing one day of school won’t kill you, but what could harm you is continually neglecting your health. Ironically, in this situation, the smartest kids make the dumbest decisions.