0:00
Nick: What was the weirdest thing that you did to chill out?

April: I did love a good TikTok dance. Yeah. 

(title card: Staying well during Year 12 with Nick and April)

Nick: Hi, I'm Nick. I'm a year 12 student and I'm here to… What am I here to do? (laughs) Hi, I'm Nick, currently in Year 12, here to chat with April. 

April: Hi, my name's April. I'm a Reach Out Youth Advocate and I'm here to share the ups and downs in my experience of year 12.

0:27
Nick: How did you juggle school with things like work, family, fun, keeping a social life? 

April: Those other aspects of your life are just as important. If you let your relationships or your friendships or the things you really enjoy kind of get away from you, um, it can be really detrimental to your mental health.

0:45
Nick: So, were there habits that helped you stay ready to do everything you needed to do? 

April: I think sleep is a big one. Studying all night and trying to cram everything in, it doesn't help in the long run. Eat before you go to school. And I think making sure that your mental health and your physical wellbeing comes above anything else really. And then you're in the right mindset.  

1:08
Nick: With that extra workload in year 12, my grades have gone down and that's been incredibly demotivating.

April: Yeah, I think it's really important to remember that marks don't define us. They are not a reflection of your intelligence, how good you are, of your effort. Whenever you're feeling like you lack motivation, I think discipline is a good point. Holding yourself to standards, maybe to a schedule you've done, a study schedule. Focus on why you're feeling unmotivated. Maybe it's a sign that you just Yeah, you need to take a break. You need to do something for yourself. I think that's also important.

1:40
April: Are there any hacks that you have when you're feeling really overwhelmed or stressed and want to disconnect, like we've talked about?

Nick: My friend’s got their P’s. I don't, so I'm still a passenger princess. But we like to go for a cheeky Macca’s run and then we'll head down by the water. Just chat there for a while, have a laugh,good disconnect, come back another day. 

2:00
Nick: So, what were the biggest things that stressed you out in year 12? 

April: The workload, time management was something I really struggled with and it would really stress me out. Even friendships can be really stressful. It translated to a lot of burnout.

Nick: Was there anything that helped you through that?

April: I actually remember straight away calling my friends. We met up cause I was just kind of like ‘I'm struggling’. They kind of kept reminding me that it's such a small part of my life in the big picture and realised that it's not, yeah, the be-all end-all. Go do something for yourself. Go do something you enjoy. Um, just getting out of that space of intense studying and everything about school.

2:40
Nick: With social media, did you set boundaries back then? 

April: No. I actually wish I did. Recently, I've gone through and, like, unfollowed a lot of creators and content that I just know isn't very good for my mental health. It's really important to follow positive creators and creators that show the real side of life. It's your social media, so you get to choose what it looks like. I definitely did try and set time limits. I think that's very important. Sometimes I set an alarm on my phone so it'll actually jolt me out of it and get off your phone. You know what I mean?

Nick: When I'd set the time when I was going to stop, I’d always go past it. So, I got my friend to set the password so that I cannot change it. I cannot add any more time.

April: There you go. Like, properly lock yourself out of it.

Nick: Are you comparing yourself to others?

April: I've always struggled with that as I'm sure a lot of people do. Especially if you're going through a tough time or if you're dealing with a lot of stress. 

Nick: Like, it adds a bit of motivation, sometimes, like “I'm doing nowhere near that much work. I need to be working harder.” Even though I'm still doing pretty well. 

April: To see people doing that, you're like, "Okay, lock in. I need to get to that." Yeah.

3:42 
Nick: So if someone's struggling right now, where could they turn? 

April: You may not feel like your worries and your stress are serious enough to bring up to someone, but they are. You may not feel comfortable sharing your worries with the close people around you. And that's why it's great to have services like ReachOut. You can go online, you can talk to real people. They know how to help and it's okay to lean on them. 

4:03
Nick: I've been in school for 12 years. That's what the purpose of my life has really been. But I still feel weird just leaving that. How was that for you? Was it stressful?

April: I did struggle a bit because I think I was so locked into exams and getting through that when they were towards the end, it kind of all hit me. My best advice to that would be you don't have to know. I think it's really important to talk to your friends and your peers. You're all going through the same thing. Talk that through so it doesn't kind of blindside you like it did me when you realise that your whole life's going to change.