TOWAMENCIN- If we all make a conscious effort to do these things, our school experiences will be much better. Follow these steps to get there.

Step One: Lose your attitude.

Now, I’d like to extend my condolences to you. I’m sorry you didn’t have enough time to fuel your coffee addiction before you came to school, but please don’t let your caffeine withdrawal fool you into thinking it’s okay to make everyone else’s day bad too.

You not getting your triple threat mocha squared non matcha with extra whips does NOT mean you can walk around these halls with an attitude!

I’m going to rant for a second. You people who don’t get your coffee are next level**. Instead of being regular zombies or something, you’re mean zombies. Caffeine deprived meanies and it’s not nice.

Don’t hit me with the door going into the girls locker room and then try to act like I deliberately moved my face in the way of you opening the door so I could get hit in the face and somehow upset you.

Don’t be mad because you were walking on the wrong side of the hallway and didn’t turn wide enough so when we meet at the corner we bumped into each other. Don’t huff and puff after I apologize to you even though it WASN’T MY FAULT TO BEGIN WITH.

Get yourselves together. It doesn’t matter if you couldn’t go to Starbucks this morning, woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or just don’t want to be here today. Fix your attitude because I don’t want your attitude spreading to me or anyone else and having the nerve to try to bring down any of our days.

Let’s all be kind to one another in all situations. This will help school days and every other day actually.

**I’m sorry for this blanket statement. I am well aware that there are those who don’t get their coffee and still know how to act. If you can go throughout your day without your Dunkin’ and spreading your wrath to the nearest person who bumps you in the halls, please skip this step and know that I am thankful for you and hope you get your coffee because you deserve it for knowing how to be coffee-less and attitude-less at the same time.

Also, if you got to the end of this and still believe a bad attitude is inevitable if you don’t get your coffee, go to the Grab-N-Go Breakfast Cart and get some. Geez.

Step Two: Don’t play your music in the halls.

See, playing your music in the halls isn’t even the worst part. Here is: playing your music, but constantly turning its volume down and then back up every ten seconds because your scared a teacher or security guard is going to find out you have the speaker and yell at you.

Nobody likes this. Nobody. Its annoying that you were brave enough to turn your music on like everyone in the hallway or cafeteria wanted to hear it, but you exceed being annoying by not being brave enough to play it at a constant volume because you don’t want to get in trouble. Well guess what, we don’t want to hear it. And when those coffee deprived zombies come to get you because your erratic music playing worsens their headaches induced by caffeine deprivation, I’m not going to feel sorry for you.

So really, put in your AirPods and let everyone be.

Step Three: 9:21.

We deserve to start school at this time. We the students, teachers, staff, and all faculty personnel deserve it. More sleep = better way to start out the school day for everyone.

We all know the studies show it’s better for kids to start later and think of how much nicer, energized, and focused everyone will be with more sleep.

I’m not going to act like I’ve got it all figured out because I don’t know what’ll happen to after school sports and all that jazz, but someone should really get on this because we can all agree that when we start school at 9:21 on Two-Hour Delay days the morale is so much better.

Step Four: Change your alarms.

This really applies to people with iPhones. If you don’t have one I mean no disrespect. This means you Android, LG, Google, Samsung (etc.) users are not a part of the problem. Pat yourselves on the back and skip this step.

Okay, if you have an iPhone go to Settings, then Sounds & Haptics, and then click Ringtone and change yours from “Opening (Default)”. Thank you. I can’t stand that alarm. I wake up with it everyday and hearing it during the course of my school day takes me back to a darker time. Back to 5:30 a.m. where I heard it the first time and it took me away from my precious slumber. Just like it jerked me from my beautiful rest, hearing it in school once again jerks my heart. If I hear that noise go off because your phone’s ringing or it’s the alarm signalling the end of a quiz, I am very liable to fall out right then and there. Nothing in this world makes me more frazzled than that noise and odds are, you have that ringer waking you up because it’s the one factory set on all iPhones so you know my pain.

Imagine a North Penn High School, where we no longer frantically turn left then right and feel our hearts clench because people change their ringers. O, the beauty!

Step 5: Think Happy.

I know waking up early and thinking about a full day of sitting in class and taking tests can be really unappealing, but try not to think of going to school like that everyday. It sounds easier than it is, but think happy.

You get to see your friends and take advantage of all the things North Penn has to offer. Putting yourself in that positive mindset and appreciating all the opportunities and memories school offers is much better than being grumpy coming into school every single day.

If you can’t do this, be happy that every day you come to school is one day closer to you graduating.

But in all seriousness, thinking happy can really make you happy. If it’s hard for you to be happy in school, the energy you put into thinking more positively to make your day better won’t even come close to the pay off you feel when your days get better because your happier.

No matter what’s going on in your life, no matter how hard it is for you to see it, mo matter the challenges your faced with, you are in fact in control of your own happiness, so start taking those steps towards an overall happier life. You deserve it. 🙂