After years of hearing friends and family discuss the near debilitating effects of senioritis, I, a senior, am now understanding that maybe they weren’t overexaggerating.

For those who aren’t familiar with the term, senioritis is defined as a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance.

Until now, I assumed that senioritis was nothing more than a simple excuse. I mean, at the end of the day we are talking about high schoolers, so making excuses for poor behavior isn’t too far-fetched.

But I now know, more than ever, that senioritis is not an excuse. I’m still not 100% sure what it is, but I do know that it’s real, and it’s affecting me.

I’m still turning in my assignments and keeping up my grades, but knowing that I’m so close to finishing up my high school career, staying up late and doing homework is the last thing I want to do.

First semester things were just like the previous years, and it wasn’t until my counselor and teachers started talking about college that it hit me. In less than one year, I would begin a new chapter in life.

It wasn’t like freshman or sophomore year when teachers “prepare” you for college, telling you to keep up your GPA and comforting students by letting them know they have so much time to decide what they want to do with their lives after high school.

Now, I’m filling out college applications and thinking about what I wanna wear to graduation.

School as a second-semester senior is the equivalent of trying to fall asleep on Christmas eve. I know I should get some rest and treat it like a normal night, but I can’t get anything done knowing that when the night is over I will be underneath the tree opening presents.

Things only get harder once your plans after high school are finally set in stone. If you decide that college is for you, the second you get accepted into your school, you want nothing else to do with high school.

It is complicated though. Because at the same time, knowing that my time in high school is coming to end, I want to cherish it in any way I can.

So perhaps being a second-semester senior is not about getting called out of class — sorry teachers — and avoiding homework.

On one end of the spectrum sits senioritis, the urge to just be done with high school and move on with whatever life has in store. And on the other side of the spectrum is a mindset that wants everything to just stay the same. A fear of what’s yet to come.

Not trying to be all sentimental, but don’t worry, it will all work out. It always does.

Even though senioritis has the power to plague the minds of millions of high school students, don’t let that interfere with your chance of making some of the best memories in your life.