Being busy is a funny thing to write about, especially during summer. Summer is supposed to be about long sunny days spent at the beach, late nights getting ice cream and this special sort of timelessness that happens between June and August.

I just came back from my summer back home in California after finishing my freshman year of college, more specifically, my first year living on my own. 2016 isn’t over yet, but it was definitely a year of firsts— new friendships, social norms and life lessons that have grown into something that finally feels familiar. I got used to being busy, and I mean crazy busy.

I’m a design/tech student at The Theatre School in Chicago, Ill. Anyone in the department will tell you that it is one of, if not the most, demanding, time consuming and mentally and physically straining program in the world. My first year was back-to-back in classes, rehearsals, shows and projects which left little time for friends or extracurriculars. Despite my packed schedule, I joined a sorority and residence hall council while volunteering at a local animal shelter and soup kitchen. I also had a part-time job. And a boyfriend. (Yikes.)

I’m not saying these things to brag about being busy as if it’s something of an accomplishment. So yeah, I had a lot on my plate, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t fall short of some things or stress cry on a weekly basis. I think we like to pride being busy as some sort of hyper-social status of “making it.” I was grateful to have a break being home this summer, but I was still working, going to the gym and volunteering and trying to navigate time differences in my FaceTime turned relationship. While that’s obviously not as much as I had been dealing with literally a month prior, it’s still time consuming.

There are only 24 hours in a day. That’s 1,440 minutes to accomplish whatever you’re set out to do or fail trying. By mapping things out in hourly increments, it can definitely drive you crazy— and this summer I hit a wall. I didn’t make time for the things I did while in school.

I’m a very big believer in making time for the people and things you care about. I know I fell short of that this summer. I wish I spent more time with my sisters, my parents and my friends. I even feel like I cheated my dog out of time with me for the weeks I was home. While I recognize these things, I know I don’t exactly regret them, instead I learned what not to do.

Now that I’m back for another round of firsts— new people, new apartment, more life lessons, I want to trade “I am very busy” for “I can make time for that.” I want to clarify that being busy is valid, and God knows with my schedule for fall quarter I am in for another whirlwind of failures and mistakes and stress induced ice cream binges. That doesn’t mean that my busyness owns my entire life— I have the power to choose what does that.

So, sophomore year, I am very busy, but I can and I will make time for __________.

Hello to sorority littles, theatre school god kids, new classes and new jobs, theatre magic, a kid’s first time seeing theatre I made happen, apartment mishaps, close calls in the kitchen, midnight lake shore walks and making time for the things that matter.