If you’re feeling stressed about college admissions, it might be because you’re under the impression that you’re supposed to be stressed. But there’s no law that says you can’t enjoy this time.
Your college future deserves to be taken seriously. But you get to decide whether to accept a B in chemistry when you did your best, or to wage a grade war with the teacher to try to raise the grade. You get to decide whether to retake the SAT four or five times, or to study for it, give it your best go once or twice, and move on. You get to decide whether to compare yourself with everyone around you, constantly trying to add more service hours, more leadership, and more accomplishments just to mimic them, or to do what makes you happy and be satisfied with whatever you accomplish.
You’ve got over 2,000 colleges from which to choose, and most of them accept pretty much everybody. There’s no law mandating that it has to be a stressful, angst-ridden process. So go a different direction. Be excited about your college future. Make the choice to enjoy this time as a family.