I spent most of my third quarter in-between mock trial competitions. Combined with play practices and schoolwork, it got to be quite a stressful nine weeks and last week I realized I was really between a rock and hard place.

I was two days away from mock trial states, and one day away from a math quiz that I thought might push my grade over the edge one way or the other. I tried to balance between studying and practicing. Nonetheless, I went in into the quiz and totally blanked. Devastated, I knew I couldn’t dwell. I told myself that school was going to have to be a next week problem.

Sometimes in life, even the best laid plans go horribly wrong, I knew this was going to be the case when I started getting ill as I was leaving Columbus on Sunday. By the evening, I had a cough. Not just a fluffy light cough. A cough that felt like bubonic pneumonia.

I was in bed for two days after that, slowly starting to realize the horrifying reality of what had occurred. I had just missed four consecutive days—two for mock trial, and two for illness—and the quarter was about to end.

Not to mention I was sick during wellness week.

As I struggled my way back to school and tried to regain control of my life, I tried to keep my mental and physical health in check. This is easier said than done though, when you have five days worth of school to complete.

I tried to develop a schedule and stay on track as much as possible, but by the second day I was feeling the pressure. The age-old argument was starting to arise in my mind, “How can I live a good life and be a good student?”

After a week of struggling and searching, I still have no answer. But, after the gentle urging of a teacher to “just take care of myself,” I’ve started to feel slightly better. I know now, that even the worst of stress will pass and in the meantime, I’ll do the best I can and let bygones be bygones.

My wellness week did not go well. But I did learn an important lesson about how to navigate the difficult school world. Maybe it wasn’t so ironic after all.