Stress is inevitable, to be frank it is out of your control, but what you can control is what you do, what you say, how you feel, how you act and how you react. I found that the expectations for myself far exceeded the expectations others had for me. The stress you put on yourself is the worst form of stress, so how did I cope with this? I have four points of advice for future HSC students.

1 – Mindset 

Rediscover yourself, your perception is your reality. If you want a better reality, change your perception. I had a simple mantra that I kept to for the whole of my Year 12 exams. I told myself “the exam is going to be over in a few hours, soon I will go home, have food on my plate, a roof over my head, my family and friends will still be there to support me and I will go back to school the next day like nothing ever happened”. Once you grasp onto that, everything in retrospect, will be fine.

2 – Goals

Situate yourself to be open to change, the amount of challenges you will confront is perpetual. You can go from wanting to aim for an above 90 ATAR to then thinking maybe 80 is enough.  Whatever it is, have clarity in your goals. Passion undermines all my actions, and because I wanted to pursue design I thought to myself “How happy would it make me to walk out of high school with a Shape nomination?” And instead of wasting time discouraging myself when moments were hard, I didn’t settle for less, I spent time making the goal seem achievable. I willingly lost myself in the journey of hardwork and perseverance, and in the end, I did get the nomination and it was extremely rewarding.

3 – Preparation

Do what works for you. Don’t overwhelm yourself with a variety of resources, everything I needed for a subject was condensed into one piece of A4 paper. I made do with what I had, simplified it and brainstormed from my points rather than restricting the depth of my exam responses with memorised essays.

4 – Selfcare

The best decisions come from stillness, I amplified this stillness by taking time out of my week to dedicate it to a day called Self-care Saturday. On Saturdays I took the time to nurture stability to maintain my wellbeing. I partook in activities like bike riding. These efforts to take care of myself were tending to an abundant garden, a garden where I myself could reflect on how I managed in the face of adversity. I also journaled to internalise my thoughts and feelings rather than just intellectualising them. This was a crucial point of introspecting that entailed me to feel equipped for the new week. 

Janeleena Intahvong Former Mary Mackillop Catholic College Student