This cheerleader has lost her competitive spirit—but her squad hasn’t.

It’s your decision, says our elder, and here’s how to make it a little easier.

Dear EWC:

I am a competitive cheerleader; this would be my 7th year. This is my senior year of high school, and I want to just do high school cheer. But my mom and dad and everyone I cheer with would be mad if I quit. It causes me so much stress and anxiety; I don’t have a passion for it anymore.
Should I continue and be miserable or cheer and make my parents stop guilt-tripping me?

Lawry replies:

I would be happy to answer your letter. I can thoroughly understand your frustration. Personally, I think you should do what would make you happy. Particularly since you are now in your senior year. I would think that you would want to end on an up note.

That being said, one way to feel good about a decision like this is to use a tool that I have used many times and I have always been happy with the results. That is to make a list of pros and cons. You may have already done this in your head, but it really helps to put it in writing. You need to be totally honest with yourself. If the results are really close, you can take it a step further and add a numerical value to each answer and see what you get.

I hope that this has been helpful to you and I wish you well as you make this decision about cheerleading. Think positive. I am a great believer in that.

I would love to hear how things work out for you. I’ll be thinking of you.

Children
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