Oxford Languages describes senioritis as “a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance.” Although this is 100% true, it’s more than that. “Life-Span Development” by John W. Santrock further describes this conversion from childhood to adulthood as ‘emerging adulthood’, a feeling that sticks from about the ages of 18 to 25. These next few years are key growing periods in our lives: we’re going to college/trade school, figuring out who we are without our parents hovering over us, and finding out what we truly want to do with our lives. Jeffrey Arnett, the creator of the Emerging Adulthood Theory, lays out five key characteristics that come to light during this period: 

1. Identity exploration– many changes occur in figuring out relationships and work. This is a time when we can explore our true identities.
2. Instability– this is a time when love, work, school, and moving out of our parent’s houses cause stress. 
3. Self-focused– emergent adults “are self-focused in the sense that they have little in the way of social obligations, little in the way of duties and commitments to others, which leaves them with a great deal of autonomy in running their own lives” (Arnett 2006).  
4. Feeling in-between– this is a time when we don’t really feel like children, but we also don’t feel like adults.  
5. The age of possibilities– we have the power to transform our lives!! This is an age of endless possibilities for us, a fresh start, we have the opportunity to completely change the way our lives are now. We have the chance to be truly happy, pursue a career we are passionate about, and find our true identities.     

When asking my fellow seniors when they started experiencing senioritis and what this felt like to them, a large majority expressed that as the second semester started, feelings of no motivation, burnout, and procrastination hit them like a train. One student expressed, “To me, senioritits is like the urge to simply leave. I lack motivation, and it’s very hard to motivate myself to start, work on, or finish school assignments. Senioritis doesn’t usually affect me outside of school, but it does make me feel very excited for the end of high school and very ready to simply be done with senior year. I just want to move on to my next stage in life!”

An Open Letter to My Fellow Senior Sisters 

So what I’m explaining through all this is that your feelings are NORMAL and will stick for quite a few years. This is a phase that every single person around you goes through, and while they might not have noticed it, they sure did experience it. Only a couple of days left girls! We got this! Finish strong!