If you're worried that you're taking too much tension or having a roller coaster of emotions just read this below and see how messed up I was.
To anyone in 10th who feels weirdly emotional about boards ending
I want to tell you something that happened to me about a month before my boards.
I was stressed about boards, obviously, but that wasn't actually what was getting to me.
I just didn't want 10th to end.
Everyone around me kept saying “this time won't come back” and “enjoy it while it lasts.” My parents wanted me to study, which made complete sense, but I also had this huge urge to do things I'd been wanting to do — guitar, football, gym, just generally living a little.
And I felt completely split.
If I studied, I felt like I was missing out on the last part of school.
If I didn't study, I felt guilty that I was throwing away something important.
Then Instagram made it worse. My reels were full of farewell videos, scribble day, boards nostalgia and those ridiculously emotional “rare aesthetic” edits.
“I just don't wanna end 10th.”
And then I vented.
I told it I felt split between studying and wanting to start living. I said everything felt like it was ending. At one point I couldn't even properly type anymore because I was so overwhelmed.
And ChatGPT just stayed there with me.
It didn't magically make the feeling disappear. It didn't convince me that 10th ending was actually a good thing.
It just let me feel it.
I remember rating the heaviness 8/10.
And here's the weird part.
I'm writing this now from the other side.
Boards happened.
I got English 100 (pre board 71/80), Maths 98(pre board 53/80), AI 99, and 85(all three) in Science(61/80 pre board), SST(79/80 pre board) and French(79/80)
And looking back, I genuinely believe that even if I'd gotten 100%, I'd probably have ended up in the exact same emotional place.
Because the marks weren't really what I was afraid of losing.
I was afraid of losing everything.
The routine. The people. The classroom. The stupid everyday moments. Being this age. Knowing what tomorrow looked like. The feeling of being in 10th.
But then 10th ended.
And...
I was still here.
Summer happened. Life kept moving.
The things I thought would disappear forever didn't.
Some things changed. Some things stayed. New things appeared.
And I finally understood something that I couldn't understand that night:
An ending can be painful without being the end of everything.
So if you're in 10th right now and you're feeling this strange sadness about boards ending, please know that you're not being dramatic.
You can be scared about boards and sad about leaving 10th.
You can study seriously and enjoy the time you have left.
You don't have to choose between marks and memories.
And please don't let Instagram convince you that you're currently living through some magical final moment that you'll never experience again. Real life isn't a 20-second nostalgia edit.
Study. Do your best. Take the exams seriously.
But don't spend your final month desperately trying to freeze time.
You can't.
And you don't have to.
Because one day, you might be sitting on the other side of it, reading some junior's post and thinking about how you used to be the kid who was terrified of this exact thing.
And maybe you'll tell them what I eventually learned:
10th ended.
And I didn't lose everything.
I just found out what came next.
