College is super expensive, which would absolutely suck if I was completely broke. Luckily for me, I have three jobs, which also absolutely sucks when you have to kiss precious study time goodbye or miss late nights watching Vine compilations with all your girlfriends.

I work three jobs for a reason.

No, it is not because I have a tendency to overwork myself or because I am a chronic type A personality. It's because paying for college, cars, insurance, groceries and a social life is difficult, especially when you never want to or can ask your parents for help.

These are the reasons my lifestyle consists of working six days a week, why I can never make it to the dining hall before it closes and why I did, in fact, gain the freshman 15. (I eat a lot of Hot Pockets when I come home from work.)

Of course, money is not the only reason for working, however, it is the most obvious benefit. If it were up to me I would, of course, just focus on going to school and seeing my friends any time I could. The biggest struggle of working three jobs is not the fact I am physically working the three jobs. It's the FOMO.

Fear of missing out.

I have this chronic FOMO when I head off to work. Every shift I feel a slight sense of embarrassment and bitter because the social ideal of college is that my time is supposed to be spent on classes, social life and new experiences.

Instead, I am a full-time student who works three jobs, misses her friends even though I live with them, have a ton of homework when I get back and my feet hurt all the time. However, I will not change my lifestyle.

Why?

I won't change my lifestyle because I can't. I must keep my three jobs to pay for my college. I must keep them to pay for my car, gas and insurance. I must be able to buy groceries (including funding for my Hot Pocket addiction.)

I do it because I have to and because although I worry about missing out on stuff back at my residence hall, I do have a large amount of pride in my work ethic.

I pride myself on my time management. I will have connections and the ability to network thanks to my job experiences. Soon, it will all feel worth it when I am one of the first of my friends to pay off my loans. It will feel worth it when I pay off my bills. It will feel worth it when I graduate.

Working this hard already has proven to me I may not be the most privileged, but I also am privileged to even have these opportunities. Working these jobs has built my character greater than anything else in my life.

I'm going to be able to say I managed it all by myself.

I may miss my friends when I am not at school. I may get jealous they are all able to not have to work, but at the end of the day, I know right when I get back I haven't missed a thing. A tray of hot pockets and hours of vines will still be waiting for me in my friend's dorm room.