I’ve noticed throughout the four years I’ve been in theatre that every time a show or musical rolls around, my grades crash. Keeping up with the endless hours we spend rehearsing along with the countless hours of homework is damaging not only my academic life, but my personal life too.

Don’t get me wrong, I love performing with all my heart, but sometimes it can overwork my schedule to where the amount of time I spend working on stage is more than the amount of time I spend at school. When being in high school, having a clean and organized schedule makes for an unstressful student. I keep every relevant date and time written in my planner and the second a show is introduced, it becomes stuffed to the brim with rehearsals (both during the week and on the weekends).

Having straight A’s and being a strong actress is all I want. But last year, for example, all of the school work, personal and family issues, and memorization for shows became too much. I was at a point to where I wanted to completely quit theatre altogether and just concentrate on grades alone. The balance between the two things was lost. You may think that some of those thoughts had to do with parent pressure on passing all my classes but in reality, is was just my overloaded mental capacity.

This year, I slightly feel the same way. I was signed up to be a Thespian, an elite society of actors and actresses. I was also going to go to competitions with the school to get a larger recognition from colleges, but after seeing how much outside of school work I already had, I backed out. I was also signed up to be in the newest production of “Into the Woods” but dropped out of that too.

All of this may come from my rashness when making difficult choices, but I think that now I definitely have a clearer mind and wish I hadn’t dropped all of the theatre things I love. I had just a small bump in the road and a moment of stressful times that pushed me to make wrong decisions about important matters. Now that my head isn’t inundated and I am at a stable place in both my school and theatre life, I can realize that it’s not always going to be this crazy. I can have all the things I love without having to put a dent in my personal career. Regardless of my school anxiety, I can’t lose track of what I really want in life. I can’t give up on my dream of becoming a Broadway star just because my schedule gets a little clustered.

I hope to continue sharing my talent on stage in future shows and keep my GPA high.