The number of times a friend has come up to me bragging about their 3 a.m. sleep schedule, or how they've been juggling four or five extracurriculars without a breather, is making me reflect on my own schedule.

Why am I so obsessed with not having enough time for myself?

It's because I feel left behind in a generation so informed on how successful everyone else is, that 'the grind' is a badge of honor. Though not having enough time to sit down and talk with my parents or even just read a book for fun nags at the back of my mind, I tell myself that I am doing the right thing for my future... that I will have time for such things later.

However, the reality is that habits are hard to break and this productivity guilt will carry on well into my life as I join the workforce.

Which makes me think, what does this mean for society 10 years from now?

If much of our workforce is deprived of time to live life, we will have a future of overworked members of society who will find it increasingly difficult to get married, have children, or just participate in their communities aside from their work. Ironically, an entire generation groomed by the principles of participation and involvement, will have little time to even be involved in their own lives. Having fun should not be a luxury.

The fact is that leisure time plays a huge part in our mental health. The art of appreciating life for its details is vanishing — appreciating nature, eating a meal with someone rather than in front of a laptop, holding the door open for people, A generation of jaded people leaves us with a loose hold on our empathy and our humanity, as far-fetched as that may sound.

It begins as early as high school, the expectation to pile more onto your plate than you can healthily consume. It is important to understand the kind of mentality we are perpetuating when we copy others in the assumption that "it's cool."

At the end of the day, I look back on how much of life I've gained by how much love and wisdom I acquired, not by how many hours I sacrificed sleep and joy.