To the Overachiever:
Okay so at 8AM you have to be at class with your essay in hand. That means you have to be up by 6:30AM in order to have enough time to get ready, print your paper off and heaven forbid get some sort of food in your system. Then you have back to back classes until noon. Then you have an hour to walk home, change, eat, and drive thirty minutes to get to work in order to work an 8 hour shift. Then when you get home you have 3 homework assignments and two quizzes to study for. Not to mention you also have a sorority meeting, a cake to bake for your fundraiser, and somewhere in there you should probably sleep.
Needless to say you're busy. Every day has to be planned out hour by hour. You feel so overwhelmed and like everything is piling on. You don't have time for friends or family, or even time to sit and watch a television show you have been trying to catch up on. No longer do you have time for leisurely reading or weekends off. Everything is busy all the time.
I'm here to tell you that it's okay to be over involved. Being a part of multiple organizations is amazing! That's how you make your friends, your connections, and build your resume. However, you have to find time to relax. Is it hard? Oh yes. Is it manageable. Oh YES! Take it from me the above schedule is exactly my schedule for one day from now. How do I manage to maintain a good GPA, talk to my parents, and still have time to do fun things with friends? Time Management.
Yes every year you have someone come see you and they try to teach you to manage your time and the whole time you are thinking, "Oh I know how to manage my time this is pointless." WRONG! I thought the same thing myself. I thought I could handle everything in my life. I was just as wrong. I started forgetting meetings and overlapping too many plans and the unbalance even resulted in a loss of a friendship. Don't be like me. Listen.
My advice is to grab a planner or agenda. Mark down when things are due. Carry it around with you like it's your child. It helps me a lot. I mean I have a physical planner then I also use google calendars because it helps to plan my day out hour by hour and color coordinate it. I write down what I have to do that day on my physical planner. Then every night before I go to bed--or sometimes a week in advance-- I plan out every hour of my day. I schedule how much time I have to eat, when I can cook, when I study a certain subject, when I go to work, driving time, and when I have time to talk to my parents. If I didn't schedule out every hour of my day I would be up till 8AM every night and have to start my whole day over.
So my advice to you is get involved, but don't let it take over your life. I know what it's like to feel so stressed you literally cry, however, don't discourage yourself from getting involved. Most people understand and are willing to work with you on deadlines that better fit your needs. Make sure you schedule time to relax too, and time to hang with friends. If you stay so busy you'll slowly work away your youth and won't remember anything fun. Let's be honest you're not going to remember that paper you stayed up writing until 3AM. You're going to remember those donut runs at 1AM with your best friends as you joke about your day. So please, schedule, maintain, and most of all have fun!
