Confession: I am a people-pleaser. I take on too much, overcommit and try to keep my hectic life under wraps in the confines of my neat, color-coded planner. I have to write "lunch at 12" or I'll forget and my stomach will be growling for the rest of the day. You think I'm kidding. I'm not.

And as valuable as a healthy meal is, this compulsion to please people spills into other realms of my life far more important than my lunch break. I find myself surrounded by people from the moment I walk out of my bedroom until my head crashes onto my pillow at night, and I'm beginning to feel drained.

Don't get me wrong, I love people, I love my community and I love being a part of the things that are keeping me busy. However, I am beginning to see myself pressured more and more by the passions and activities I take on that are not my own.

For a while, I wanted to do everything. Let's be honest, I'm still like that and I am fulfilled by it. I enjoy busyness and I like to feel productive. But the lines are beginning to be blurred between my joy and the joy of others at my expense.

There is a fine line between full-throttled passion and drained to the max. I am beginning to see the dangers in this blur between doing what you love because you love it and doing too much because it makes other people happy.

What I've seen through my hectic life this past semester is that it isn't even the people around me putting pressure on me to be a part in these things that keep me so stressed. It is myself. I fear that if I say "no" to one thing, someone will be upset with me: my friends, my parents, my professors, the list goes on.

But here's the thing: odds are that the people you want to please are the people who love you the most and who want you to be your brightest, your boldest, your most vibrant. And being those things sometimes means taking a self-evaluation.

This is not a "please pity me" segment by any means, but if you are feeling like this -- like you don't have time for yourself or even that you plan your future based on the happiness of others -- then you need to reflect and make sure you are being fulfilled by what you're devoting most of your time to.

Be an active member of your community, get involved and give back. Find your passions and live them out fully. But don't lose yourself in the mix of it and don't forfeit your happiness for the contentment of others.