Escape.

Escaping high schools pressure in a productive way can take on many different forms, mine however, is running. I have had many different paths of escape including tumbling in gymnastics, jumping of trampolines, diving, and now running.
I was a gymnast for 12 years, and thankfully my early years as a gymnast were not very stressful, but then came the middle school years that everyone dreads. Gymnastics became something that was stable, unlike the girls at school who claimed to be my friends, and pounding on the floor was something else I could concentrate on.
You would be surprised at how quickly one can get winded by jumping on a trampoline. Even as a physically fit kid I still had to sit down every couple of minutes. I would work on more gymnastics skills or try to do the fun thing someone showed me at gymnastics camp. I would see how high I could jump and imagined how high I could get if I jumped off my roof onto my trampoline. My trampoline was right outside and (weather permitting) I could use it whenever I liked.
Diving is a technical sport. Thanks to gymnastics flipping in the air was nothing out of the ordinary and I was able to catch on pretty quickly soon after I started freshmen year. Diving was not an escape at first, the early morning practices followed by my hair being soaked as I walked to my first class of the day was not always thrilling. This year, however, things changed. The difficulty level needed to be doing my dives was heightened, as was the risk component. As I said diving is a technical sport and while you are in the air there is little room for outside thoughts. Diving became an escape because it was something I could focus on, and it was also rewarding as I became a higher and higher ranked diver.
Working out every week was nothing out of the ordinary for me. Back in the gymnastics days I would be in the gym for around 20 hours a week. If I wanted to maintain the form I was in I could not stop after I retired, so I started going to a gym. A high-intensity work out only gives you one thing to think about, how much pain you are in, and the only other thing that you are fighting to put in your mind is telling yourself it will be worth it afterwards, and reminding yourself to breathe. Pain is a very good escape plan as long as its productive.
Sometimes high school can be really difficult, and being stuck in the same place with the same people who constantly remind you of where you are messing up and what they do not like about you can be just draining. It is too much, to be quite frank, and the unbelievable amounts of pressure on us are the reasons young people make bad decisions and turn to things that are not good for them. Staying active has always worked for me, but maybe for you its puzzles, rubics cubes, drawing, writing, singing, the list could go on and on. If you want to escape, its simple, just concentrate on something else. And also remember to just start laughing, although they may seem monstrous, the pressures of high school max out at four years.
JSL