American is in crisis, and so are its teenagers. 

We are used to having our entire lives planned out. Our public education system’s cult of productivity instills in us a sense of urgency about whatever is coming next. High school is all about getting to college. College is all about becoming a successful member of the workforce. We choose our extracurriculars not for pleasure, but to cultivate our resumes. 

You’d think we would welcome this screeching halt to our stringent schedules. But instead, we are unproductive and unmotivated. We are lost. 

Many teens with anxiety, a condition that affects ⅓ of the general population, cite grades, the college admissions process, and both self-inflicted and external pressure to achieve academic success as major contributors to their stress. While we frequently have breakdowns and we recognize that this lifestyle is detrimental to our mental health, we function at a high level despite inundating ourselves with work. Yet now, we have hardly any obligations, except for less rigorous distance learning, and we aren’t functioning at all. We’re still anxious about our education – one J. P. McCaskey High School student stated that she feels “nervous about all of this wasted time” – yet in the words of another student, it’s almost impossible to “[find] the motivation to get up every morning because there really is no routine.” We are tired, distractible, and struggling to finish even the most basic of assignments. 

And that’s completely normal. It’s a natural physical and mental response to trauma. When it senses a threat, the sympathetic nervous system instigates a “fight or flight” response. Our heart rate and breathing increase, stress hormones are activated. This is beneficial when we need protection from a temporary threat. But the sympathetic nervous system is unable to distinguish between real and perceived threats. While the threat of COVID-19 is very real and not to be diminished, it creates an environment of constant fear without respite. When we read the news, go for a walk and see people in masks who flinch when we approach, worry about loved ones suffering from the virus, or even stress about “wasted time,” we are reminded of this seemingly ceaseless threat and our brains are stimulated into high alert. It becomes incredibly difficult to feel safe and peaceful. We are stuck in “fight or flight”, leaving us depleted and exhausted. 

Additionally, the emotions we are experiencing right now – frustration, confusion, rage, and many more – are manifestations of grief. High school is a time when emotions are already exacerbated, making this pandemic especially hard for adolescents, and missing a graduation, prom, musical, competition, or time with friends is a legitimate devastation. We’re grieving the loss of experiences, a way of life, and the clarity about our future that we were so accustomed to. 

We need to be patient with ourselves. We can’t expect to maintain our former levels of productivity and functionality when we are undergoing traumatic stress. It’s a good thing to take breaks, take a day off, practice self-care, and take care of others. 

But hopefully, we as a society can take advantage of this opportunity to eradicate our all-or-nothing mentality regarding productivity and promote more balance in our everyday lives. In the 1980s, Japanese students had longer school days punctuated by 40-50 minute breaks, but according to several studies, they surpassed American students who had no breaks. Once this pandemic is over, instead of returning to our overwhelming schedules and the accompanying anxiety, we need to adapt the structure of our education system and workforce so that our days include breaks. We should establish mandatory mindfulness training and teach students strategies for coping with their acute stress. Finally, we must stop spreading fear about the college admissions process in high schools and even middle schools. These steps will help encourage students to live in the present instead of agonizing over the future, and could attenuate our nation’s mental health crisis.