How to Make Time for Your Friends

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Nothing beats the world of competitive cheerleading, but it can certainly knock out your social life. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to maintain your status as a varsity cheerleader. Despite what many people think about cheerleading squads being 'cutesy', the reality is a physically grueling sport like this one makes for more nap time than hangout time. While the payoffs can be rewarding (awards, scholarships, televised appearances), it can also leave you emotionally exhausted. When most of your time revolves around cheerleading, it doesn’t always leave time for much else, like your friends. Here are a few tips on how to make time for your friends without sacrificing your cheerleading schedule.

 

Put Yourself First: Before you begin making commitments to other people, you need to commit to yourself. To fully appreciate and enjoy those precious moments with your buddies, take a few hours of 'me' time. Watch a movie you've always wanted to, read that book you keep putting off, go try on the dress, or just even take a peaceful walk in the park. It's can be tough to disengage and change gears from competing to just being still. Start with yourself. Then, work your way toward your friends. Make Honesty a Policy: When you finally manage to spend some well-needed time with your besties, don't waste it. In fact, raise the friendship value by putting everything on the table. Be honest about how you feel, share your views and opinions. One of the truest tests of worthy friendships is whether or not someone can accept you for who you are, crazy schedule and all. You may lose a few during this process, but the ones that stick are golden. During the little bit of time that you can spare for socializing, these are the people that are worth it. Become a Time Manager: Here's a skill that you can add to your repertoire: time manager. Becoming an effective time manager will help you prioritize your to-do list and make room on your want-to-do list, too. Create a schedule for school and cheering. That shouldn't be too tough because both activities typically operate on fixed, set time.  Create another schedule dedicated toward fun things to do! Allocate some time during each week for your friends. Treat that time as importantly as you do sports and school. You're not a robot and staying true to "friend time" will help remind you of that.

 
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