First off, I'm one of those people. I always have a countdown until my birthday, and I always obnoxiously remind everyone around me. I love party planning, especially when it's for me. I'm already a pretty social person, but usually with the same, around 10, people. My birthday is the one time of year I can hit up my entire friends list or phone book, without people thinking it's weird that I am reaching out to them. When it comes to my birthday events, the more the merrier - and not even because of the presents.

However, this year is really different for me. I wasn't even honestly thinking about my birthday until I sat down to write this article. As of right now, I will be turning 24 in less than 36 hours, but the amount that I have to do before and after my birthday is what's keeping me from being able to have my annual hourly countdown.

I graduate with my master's degree in five weeks. Originally, this was the theme of my party: two degrees; two dozen, or two degrees before 25, whichever sounded catchier. But at the time crept closer, as time tends to do, I've barely had a moment to plan theme-specific elements of the party due to the fact that I have three job interviews, a job fair, two midterms, and dozens of apps to send out, as more major responsibilities this week into next week.

I'm still planning on having a great birthday week, in the middle of all of these events, jobs, classes, and study dates. I suppose the ultimate challenge would be for me, personally, to get out of the mindset that I need to be doing something on my never-ending to-do list, but instead, just relax. I know that I deserve to take a day or two off to celebrate the fact that I'm twenty-four, I'm graduating with a master's degree in five weeks, and I'm still able to keep my head above water despite my hectic, shifting, 46 hour week.