From the time I was a kid, I was always a procrastinator. I would wait until the day before a paper was due to start it, would never space my assignments out, and was almost always doing some last minute studying. In high school, napping came before homework, which only furthered my procrastination, because then I would be too groggy from sleeping to get any real work done. But go figure, I graduated with a 4.2 GPA and a good academic reputation. Procrastinating was a routine that I made work for me.

As soon as I got to college, however, things changed. I could not bare the thought of procrastinating and would go out of my way to do assignments as soon as they were assigned. Obviously, this has served me well and changed my routine completely. Up until my sophomore year, however, I would not bat an eye about sleeping until 11am or taking a three-to-four hour nap throughout the day. I was no longer actively procrastinating, but I was still purposefully taking time out of my day to sleep or relax when I could have been getting other, more important things done.

Now, don't get me wrong. I still believe in a great nap. If you're tired, sleep. Napping everyday, however, is something that I have learned is unnecessary. My second semester of my sophomore year I challenged myself to wake up every day at 7am for a week, and the routine actually worked well for me. After getting over the initial shock it gave my system, I was able to get so much more done earlier. This was when my perspective changed on morning-work vs. night-work. All of my academic career, I had been a die-hard night-work student. I got most of my work done at night, into the late hours, and saved the morning for sleeping. Since this discovery of newfound time that I don't spend sleeping, I have ample opportunity to get work, errands, and daily tasks done. It has also given me the chance to take on more responsibility, which has been both good and bad.

I like to feel accomplished. I like taking on new tasks and challenges and succeeding. I don't know many people who don't, but as a perfectionist, the feeling of accomplishment goes way past instant gratification. I strive to be as perfect as possible at everything I do and tend to get down on myself when things do not go my way. The pressure of college can get to anyone, but especially those who tend to put pressure on themselves in any circumstance.

The stress of this semester has been unlike any I have ever experienced. I feel like I'm constantly playing catch up, always one step behind and have lost ten pounds from the anxiety of it all. I know I am not the first person to ever experience this, and I will definitely not be the last, but it's draining. Now, instead of saying "I can nap now and do that later," my mind is always saying, "No time to relax, do things now, every minute, until you physically can't anymore." After the realization kicked in that this is not the way that any one person, student or not, should think, I have had to make a conscious effort to find a healthy balance between procrastinator and perfectionist.

No one is bionic. No one is robotic. No one is perfect. These are things that I have learned from this semester. There's not a doubt in my mind that I already knew them, but in a stressful setting like college, where there so much pressure to do so many things at once, anyone can get wrapped up in the go-go-go of it all.

But it's okay to take a step back, be mindful, and relax.