If prioritizing comes naturally to you, you are blessed. I mean that. As I sit here on top of the covers of my unmade bed, staring at the mountain of clothes on my couch, not studying for the final that waits for me tomorrow morning, I write. About twenty minutes ago as I started thinking about all of these daunting tasks that lay before me, I started feeling the weight of the world and wanted to simply quit. I wanted to walk outside, throw my laptop on the ground and quite possibly have a good ugly cry. If that does not speak to where you find yourself 70 percent of the time, what is your secret? Please fill the rest of us in, those of us who stay overwhelmed by the day-to-day tasks we have committed our very precious time to.

I have come to a place in my educational career where I have to pick and choose what I allow myself to be a part of. I go to a small liberal arts college where if you are involved in one thing, you are involved in everything. My days have started mirroring each other in the way that they go by so fast that I feel as though I wake up, I blink and it's all over. This leaves me no time for doing the things I truly want to do, even though what I want to do seems so simple. I want to be heard. I want my voice to matter. I want to live in such a way that my lifestyle has the power to change someone else’s. This has been my desire for the longest time, but I have trouble finding the time when I am slowly becoming weighed down by the tasks that I have put in my path.

When approached with the idea of writing for Odyssey, my first reaction was absolutely not. When I head back to Massachusetts in three weeks, I have a full course load to manage, two jobs to keep straight, a club to run and precious relationships to keep up with. Between all of these responsibilities I have previously committed to, I have no time for extra obligations. On top of this, prioritizing has never been my gifting. But because of this fact, I said yes. I asked to learn more because there was an exciting and new opportunity that I did not want to see unfold without me. The fact of the matter is that I have wanted for so long to be heard, and now I have a space to do that, so I have a hard time apologizing to myself or anyone else for adding yet another task to my never-ending list.

Maybe my words will not inspire you to make first things first. In all reality, these words could just be a last ditch effort on my part to feel OK about my saying yes to yet another thing. Either way, here’s to prioritizing my time, my life, and my desires. Here is to being heard, having a voice and making time for the things that matter the most.