Bay Area Hustle Culture in Teens
Recently, I have found myself part of two book clubs. The first is during my first block where my friends and I bring the books that we want to share, and we have a little book exchange. The second is during my journalism class where we add books that we want to read to our story graph and talk about all the sports romances that we have read and want to read. These book clubs have revived my love for reading and have made me remember the stories I loved as a kid when I sped through books. However, it also made me realize that I read almost nothing during high school.
As a second-semester senior, I have reflected on how I have spent my free time during my previous years. I see most of my time spent on doing homework, working, and volunteering to make sure I have a well-rounded college application. Now that college application season has gone, I have been able to look at what I have done and see what has mattered most. Even now that applications are done, I feel the need to fill my time with things that many people in the Bay Area consider productive.
As I have started to get back into these things I can not help but feel a specific cloud of judgment over my head or a voice telling me that I should not be enjoying such activities. If I take a look around me at what my peers are doing, whether it be here at Notre Dame or another school in the Bay Area, they are studying and doing homework. When not doing these things, students often make it a priority to volunteer, get a job, play a sport, join many extracurricular activities, and even do all of those things at once. Often when I have tried to do something that would not be recognized by anyone or get any credit for, I feel that I have been unproductive. Even for something like napping or spending time with family, it still feels as though I should be doing something academically related, instead.
The amount of time I spend reading for fun, sewing, drawing, or any other things that I do by myself to fill up my leisure time has dramatically increased now. I have been adamant about picking back up the things that I love to do before homework and college application activities clouded my mind. Though I am proud of all the activities that I have participated in throughout high school, I can see it has served the main purpose of being on a college application. This has made me more thoughtful about choosing to do things that actually bring me joy— that is the purpose above all.
