I'm closing out my third year of college. I'm a full-time student, a part-time employee, and the same person who is losing her gosh darn mind working on an honors thesis about coming out stories in young adult fiction. If I'm not in class, I'm at work, and if I'm not at work, I'm working on my honors thesis. I've also been known to work on my thesis while in class or at work. If I'm not in either of those places or working on my thesis, you can bet I'm sleeping.

Despite this business, I still try to make time for friends and for things that bring me joy. After all, if I didn't, I would lose my mind.

Well, people claim that I have lost my mind when they see just how heavily organized my work is and just how much work I actually have done. After all, I spent almost all of my winter vacation getting a head start on reading and writing responses, and I put more time into it a week than just about anything else.

The key to getting all of this thesis work done, having time to do other class work, putting in hours at work, and having time for other necessities like sleep, eating, and socially interacting is very simple: time management.

I have two planners and a bullet journal, which I update daily. I enter every day knowing what I have to do and having an idea of how much time each task will take me. After this, of course, I pencil in time for my meals and see if there's enough time to add some socialization to the mix. It's a balancing act, sure, but it is incredibly worth the positive results that it continues to yield. After all, I have continued to get good amounts of sleep throughout this process, and I still see my friends at least once a week. I'm still on top of my classes outside of my thesis.

This close to the finish line, only a year and some change away from graduating with my bachelor's degree, I know that I can't afford to make a mistake. I can't afford for my mental or physical health to start declining because that will set me back in my goals. No, I just have to keep pushing on, keeping my eye on the prize of a diploma while finding the time to keep myself fulfilled in all the areas of my life.

The truth about graduation is that time is of the essence. Every day brings you one day closer to crossing the stage and getting your diploma, but you have to stay on track until that point. If you slip up too far, you'll put yourself behind and potentially delay your graduation. You need to stay on top of your academics, but you can't let other parts of your life fall to the wayside either. When time is of the essence, as it is now, you have to know how to use it to your advantage.