Basically since the beginning of the school year, I've been ready for summer; I was ready to go back to living day to day, to seeing all my home friends, going on spontaneous adventures, laying out on the beach, jumping up and down at concerts with my hands in the air, driving around with all the windows down screaming the best lines to our favorite songs. My friends and I were all so excited to get away from schoolwork and 8 a.m. classes, with expectations through the roof for all the fun we would be having over the next three and a half months.

Yet here I am, more than halfway through my summer, and instead of going on adventures or hanging at the beach, I’m quickly eating lunch during my hour and a half between jobs, because it’s the only time during the day I’ll have to myself.

This summer, I have been working three jobs while holding an internship. In a way, this has been great: I’ve been saving hundreds of dollars that will go towards school, a new car, loans, etc. However, it’s also taken a big toll on my summer plans.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely thankful and happy to be working this many hours and making this much money for myself; however, summer is supposed to be my time off from school, a time when I get to relax and unwind for a few months with my friends before packing back up and going back to school (and after the stressful year I just had, I was ready for a break). I had made bucket lists with my friends and planned weekend road trips and planned on saving time for myself to be able to do the fun things I wanted. But when the summer started, so many job opportunities started coming up for me, and being as broke as I was, I knew that I couldn’t let them pass by.

I work a breakfast and lunch shift at one job for 18 hours a week, and usually a night or double shift at another, and the third job’s hours are all over the place, so planning things with friends around this started becoming really difficult. My free time never overlaps with their free time, and whenever I did know I had a day off, I would have to make plans for it days in advance. Unless people were willing to see me when I get out of the restaurant at 11:45 p.m. or in between jobs around 2-4 p.m., there wasn’t really much time for me to see them.

I became aware of all the things I was missing out on (spending a weekend on the Cape, visiting my best friend in Maine, going to a three-day music festival), and all the things I had to cancel on because of my schedule. I was upset to know how much I wasn't getting to do, but I wasn't going to quit a job or call out of work simply because I wanted to hang with my friends.

Making money is definitely a priority, especially if you have to pay to put yourself through college or afford something expensive like your own place or car; however, I still believe that as young students, we should give ourselves time to spend it with our friends, family or just by ourselves enjoying the peace. Even doing laundry, cleaning my room, or eating a substantial dinner has fallen so low on my to-do list. There are some days when I work from 7:30 in the morning to 11 at night and I internally kick myself for making myself so available to my jobs and so unavailable to the people I only get to see during the summer. Don't do that to yourself; give yourself space to breathe and time for yourself to spend as lazy or crazy a way as you'd like.