If you’re anything like me, you can’t stand it when you’re bored. Some people can spend their week going to class and watching Netflix, and while the occasional binge is a necessity, you always find yourself doing something more. It’s always “just one more club”, or one more event, or one more Leadership position. It’s extra hours at work, extra social engagements, and extra credit. There’s a point when extra gets excessive.

Here’s the trouble though: you like everything you’re doing. You feel obligated to do the things that you do. And there’s not one thing that you can give up. It’s all equally important to you. So what do you do when you’re on your third cup of coffee, but haven’t eaten a single meal? When you haven’t slept in days but you’ve gone to four meetings (because you run at least two of them) and have made time to spend with your friends even though you really should be sleeping? When your extra curricular activity takes precedence over your Genetics test and suddenly you’re doing worse in the class than you should be?

Take a deep breath, and say it with me please: You. Cannot. Do. It All. Something has to go. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been a serial over-promiser since high school. I had to do every extra curricular activity, and found my way into higher leadership positions every year. And I LOVED it, just like I love what I do now. But I’m telling you friendships, a hard lesson I’ve learned over the years is that you need to know when to step back, or the things that you say bring you satisfaction and joy will be your downfall.

It’s not going to be easy, and it’s not supposed to be. A rule that I live by when I catch myself doing too many things is that if it doesn’t hurt to give it up, you’re not giving up the right thing. And yes, it will suck. No one likes to give things up, especially when you feel like you’re letting people down. But hear me out for just one second.

If you’re worried about letting people down by stepping back, won’t you end up doing so when you’re so burnt out that you can’t even keep your eyes open? That your paperwork starts to slip, or you start sleeping through events? Won’t you hurt them when you’re so tired that you completely forget to book an important event and now you’ve let an entire organization down because you’re too proud to say you need help or that you need to take a step back? I promise you that you taking a step back will end up benefitting them in the long run more than you staying in a position that stresses you out so much you can’t even take care of yourself.

I understand the urge to do it all, especially in college. There are so many amazing experiences to undertake and you don’t want to miss a single one. Just remember that at the end of the day your health and your education are the most important things in college, and they cannot become secondary thoughts to extra curricular activities and social engagements. Yes your resume needs to impress the masses when you graduate, but you can’t graduate if you’re burnt out and shove your GPA in the trash. It’s something just to be wary of in the future and work on, because I know I’m still finding that balance myself. I promise you, you will still be just as busy as ever if you step back from a few things, but you’ll be able to do the few things you’ve held onto a million times better than you could have when you were stressed out.

We can’t do everything, friends, and that’s okay.