In high school, most kids are over the moon excited to begin cheerleading or to join a sports team or the get active in clubs. The list of extracurricular activities is vast and endless, it seems, and you can't imagine having time for everything you want to do. I'm not sure why, but I lacked the ambition to get involved in much. I was in the French Club and the Key Club, but I never really got involved. It wasn't until my junior year that I joined the debate team and truly found a calling there. I regret not getting more involved, but mostly because it's affected how I take on responsibility now.

I'm 22 years old and have a terribly hard time getting involved and handling a handful of responsibility. In order to make up for my lack of ambition in the earlier years of my life, I seem to overload myself with things that I foolishly think I can handle. I'm taking classes full time, I work a nearly full time job, I'm the executive editor of an online newspaper that we are launching from scratch in two weeks, I'm the editor in chief of this Odyssey chapter, and I'm currently trying to get involved in a community group in my city. There aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do and need to do.

I feel like if I would have done more in high school, I could have been better prepared to handle an excessive amount of obligations. If I would have had to balance school, a sport, three clubs, and senior women's society, maybe I wouldn't feel so suffocated now. While I could spend forever regretting and wishing I could go back and change things, it would dome no good. So now what?

I'm going to be better at using my phone calendar. By keeping track of everything, I wont forget important dates and events. As much as my downtime makes me happy, the feeling of letting people and myself down does not. I need to be more goal oriented and make sure I take care of what needs to be done before I decide I can lay down and binge watch Once Upon a Time. Taking care of my responsibilities needs to come first. Scheduling will help a great deal with that.

I apologize to anyone that I have ever wronged due to my inability to prioritize and schedule. I'm going to be better at it and hopefully be able to do so much more. Get ready Parkersburg, West Virginia. I'm going to do some amazing things in this town.