"You're crazy." If you're anything like I am, you've probably heard this a lot in your life. You know you're not crazy, you just can't help but put 100 percent into a million different activities you throw yourself into. You're just ambitious.

And you've been this way all your life. Ever since you were tall enough to reach tables and countertops, you were already reaching for much farther than that in your young life. And it was never your parents forcing you to do more than you thought possible. It was just you.

The same drive followed through while you grew up. Honors-leveled classes, clubs, sports teams, jobs, hobbies, and fitting in time for friends and family was the norm for your schedule. You liked being busy, and although you sometimes complained about it, you knew that if you were doing any less you wouldn't be able to function.

You got used to the all-nighters. Caffeine became your best friend. You constantly pushed yourself harder and harder, while outsiders watch in awe. "Why are you putting yourself through so much stress?" they would ask. "You know you don't have to be taking on so much."

You knew well indeed that you didn't have to be doing everything that you were doing. But you knew, if you even dropped something, you would feel empty. You would feel as all your hard work was for nothing. You would let yourself down. You really felt that you did indeed have to do it.

That's the one thing that sets you apart from the others. You see your peers gliding through life, barely breaking the surface of their potential, yet completely satisfied with their existence. And you ponder their lives, expecting dull and boring realities, but in the back of your head you're envious. Why do they get to relax through life, without feeling any sort of guilt?

This is to those nights your eyes feel heavy and swollen from starring at your homework past 3 in the morning. To those times you stay behind class to work hours after everyone else leaves. The endless moments doubting yourself and hating yourself for "putting too much on your plate." This is to remind you that you are definitely not crazy. You are part of a special breed of human being that is rarely seen anymore. Hard-working, dedicated and loyal til death, not stopping until you know the job's done right. You know how heavy your full plate has been your whole life. You have to work though the qualms, the fear, the exhaustion, and the pain to reach far beyond the tables and countertops.

That being said, stop beating yourself up. Give yourself a break every once and a while, and quiet the guilt. Take a day off from the gym. Take a class for fun this semester. Take a nap, for God's sakes.

Don't stop your ambitious spirit, for it will carry you to wherever you wanna go in your life.