"Seriously, at some point can life just stop for two seconds and then resume about five hours later because I am so tired of running around looking like a chicken with its head cut off?"
I asked my friend this question a couple of days ago and she first looked at me like she was concerned for my mental health and then when I said "I am so overwhelmed," she knew exactly how I felt. The thing is about life and being in college is that it never slows down, even for a second. There is always something else to check off the bucket list, another organization meeting to go to or just the mountainous pile of homework that has accumulated after one measly day of school. I mean life is just thrown at us all constantly and I truly am just wondering when the time of peace will come.
Even though all of that may be going through your mind, like everything is going through mine, this feeling of being overwhelmed will eventually pass. For me, I feel like that is such a hard thing to believe at my current state in time and in life, but I know deep down that everything will work out and all the items on my to-do list will be crossed off at some point and there will be a day soon when I finally get free time.
The thing that helps me remember this is the phrase, "one thing at a time." My parents constantly told me this growing up because I was always the one kid in the class that tried to do everything in sight so that I didn't feel like I was missing out on activities (also known as FOMO). So, to counteract my feelings of anxiousness and being overwhelmed by choosing to be involved in every club and AP class in school, my parents reminded me to do one thing at a time. I swear I heard it almost every day, and sometimes when it was a particularly busy day, I heard it about twenty times in a single day.
To me though, this phrase is more than just completing one thing at a time on my lengthy to-do list. This phrase signified that when I was working on one task I would focus solely on that task and not think about what I was supposed to accomplish next. If I thought about the next activity then I was going to continue to overwhelm myself. However, if I focused on my one task, at that time, then I was able to put my 100 percent self into that one task and do it well. There is such a difference between finishing a to-do list and finishing the to-do list well. The quality of your work will always be worth more than the quantity of your work. So, with each task, I put 100 percent effort into it and finish strong.
To wrap this up, if you are feeling overwhelmed and like you don't have control of your life at this present time then remember to focus on one thing at a time and do great work with each task you are striving to complete. Finally, remember that you are only human and there are more important things in life, but if you can manage your time well, then you are golden!
