Extracurricular activities are amazing. They help you build new relationships, increase confidence, and give you a chance to try something new. But there is such a thing as too much. The overhaul of work that comes with certain extracurriculars can be overwhelming for some people. Certain extracurriculars that have very busy schedules, i.e. Marching Band, Drama Club, Science Olympiad, Sports, etc, can leave people with less free time to work on school work, hang out with friends, or even remember basic self care.

People who pile themselves with activities not realizing what their getting into can become overwhelmed with the pressure of it all. While talking with Echo Diffenderfer, Freshman theatre club member, she said, “The pressure of the extracurricular activities is that anyone who is in extracurriculars always seems to need extra time on projects in school.“

The payoff might make the loss of free time worth it, but it still can be a challenge. When choosing extracurriculars, people tend to not pay attention to how much they like the activity instead of how physically and/or mentally taxing the activity might be. This causes people to become stressed out and/or completely give up on the activity.

In  a few cases, the person might put the extracurricular above everything else, leading to them not paying attention to school. So in the end, when choosing an activity, you must pay attention to the schedules along with your own opinion on the subject. Otherwise you might overwork yourself and become stressed.