As high school students, we all tend to overwhelm ourselves with homework, test scores, grades, and exam scores.

We tend to overwhelm ourselves with sports and our social statuses often put ourselves in stressful situations, and we forget one of the most important things in life — to put yourself first and make yourself happy.

Here are five tips that I suggest following to help keep yourself stress free.

Prepare for the morning the night before

I stand by this statement.

Recently, I have learned how stressed out I can make myself by waiting until the last minute to prepare for the day ahead of me.

I am not a morning person, so when I tell myself that I am going to wake up earlier in the morning to have time to get myself together, I end up lying to myself and instead I find myself pressing the snooze button one more time.

It is better to prepare yourself the night before, so you have more time to sleep in and you do not feel as rushed in the morning. By doing this you have less of a chance of forgetting something.

Avoid negative people

Good things happen when you distance yourself from negative people.

No matter what you say, negative people have a tendency to take any conversation and make it a bad one.

Negative people seem to suck the energy out of you, often discouraging you from being the best that you can be.

If you can help it, I suggest to stay away from negative people. The more you stay away from the negativity, the happier you will find yourself to be.

Do not rely on your memory 

We have too much stuff to remember between homework for six classes, studying, projects, and everything that happens outside of school.

We often forget about things and later get upset at ourselves when we remember that we forgot about it.

I suggest to go out and buy sticky notes or a planner. You could even use your notebook that you use for your classes.

Start writing things down at that moment instead of waiting. The more you stop relying on your memory, the more stress-free you will find yourself.

Strive for excellence, NOT perfection

We as high school students are the worst about trying to perfect ourselves and then tearing ourselves down when we do not reach perfection.

It is better to strive for the best that you can be and not for something that is way out reach.

Always have a plan B 

It is reassuring  to have two plans instead of one because the first plan can fall through or not work out and that can lead to disappointment in ourselves and to stressful situations.

It is better to have two plans instead of one so that way we always know what to expect.

These are only some tips to follow to help keep yourself stress free.

As long as you always remember to make yourself happy before you try to make others happy, you will find yourself better off.