I've had a bad habit the past year of saying yes to too many things that didn't serve me.

I thought that it would be good for my resumé, I was interested and wanted to invest more time in the cause, my friends were in it, and my internal processing accepted responsibility for a million different projects and adventures without fully internalizing just how problematic it might turn out to be or truly investigating the reason for my interest.

College is about exploration; I took that notion to heart, exploring many different opportunities without questioning my incentive or rationalization, so instead when the semester pushed on, it was no wonder that my anxiety amped up and I fell quickly into patterns of self-destructive habits, like not sleeping or eating right.

The turnout instead was that I lost interest in most things, and I lost my sense of self because of how thinly I had spread out my time and the amount of self I had put into my interests.

The issue wasn't that I had a wide array of passions or that I had just lost touch with myself and therefore my interests. Instead, it was akin to a chain cause and effect reaction.

I had put too much pressure on myself at once to learn all of the knowledge, and when time after time I was sacrificing my own happiness, well-being, or sense of self I blamed myself for not working hard enough.

There's enough pressure on me for being a first-generation student; my entire life college has been this grandeur idea that's been fed to me through my family, the importance and the once-in-a-lifetime feeling of it.

No one ever asked if I ever wanted to go to college, they asked me where I'd go, what I'd study, and what I wanted to be someday, always with the expectation of a lawyer or a doctor or some profession that staved off the blue-collar, lower-class always working mentality that had pervaded the lives of my family.

The notion was; if you thought with your brain, you'd never have to work with your back. I internalized this way of thinking, despite how amazing college has been for me so far.

I thought that during this time, I needed to conquer the world and end world hunger and somehow discover the answer to every question I've ever asked or been asked, which I knew was impractical but still followed me to my dorm and into every class.

Instead, I've begun to learn the power of saying no and I've tried to rekindle the things that I've lost love for mostly because I sacrificed them for things I once thought was more important.

I've begun to evaluate the time and energy I put into every organization I'm in and every practice that I continue each day to cut the things that don't serve me, manage things that I've put too much or too little enthusiasm in, and dig further to find what it is I love doing and how I can find ways to develop programs, ideas, and community projects that fit what I want to do.

Throughout my time at college so far, it's been one of the most important forms of self-discipline that I've learned, saying no, and although it can be hard sometimes, it's okay to take action and do what makes you happy and serves you.

Anything else in unnecessary and true friends will support you through your transitions of understanding, interests, goals, and self.

You deserve the world, and sometimes when the world offers too much or not enough, speak up and say what you want, even if that's no.

There's so much time in the world, there are so many opportunities, so many facets of your passions and your interests – do not feel compelled to be boxed into just one, or even a billion.

You're the sole creator of this story – no matter who helps you and supports you along the way and how they contribute the story – but ultimately you control the next step.