I have a friend who has had at least two jobs, an internship, and has held two huge leadership positions on campus for the last two years. Her name is also Emily, but she's the Emily all other Emily's want to be. Emily is a behavioral neuroscience major, a dedicated vegan, and is currently studying to take the LSAT (she already took the MCAT last summer). Emily is the definition of an overachiever and she is kind, perky, and incredibly thoughtful. Emily is an exceptional human being.

Thanks to my growing inability to say "no," I have suddenly found myself being nearly as busy as (the other) Emily this semester, but with about half the discipline. This combination usually spells disaster and has left many a haggard, crazed college student in its wake, but I have discovered some tricks to keep my head above water when things get crazy.

Burn some kCals

Maybe this one isn't for everyone, but working out is the single most important way I maintain my sanity. Some weeks, I am so busy that I literally have to schedule time to pee. But even on the days when I resort to sprinting across campus for a coffee, I do not skip my workout. I will literally lie to my friends and tell them I have a meeting so that I can slip away to the cramped, stinky campus gym (sorry guys). And that is because my time at the gym is my time. I put in my headphones and I can do whatever I want for one blissful hour, and there is nothing more necessary than that when every waking minute of your life is committed to other people.

Make time for your friends

I am currently on the tail end of the busiest week of my entire life. I had two tests, two projects due, and a TEDx event that I've spent the entire semester working on. You know those days where you're just teetering on the brink of hysteria? Like, your eye is twitching from the 6 cups of coffee and you just kinda want to crawl under a desk and die? Well, by Wednesday night, I had completely blown past that point. And I still had another test to study for and a project to finish up. I left school after the event was over, sat down at my kitchen table and started grinding (while trying not to cry). Then, my friend showed up with every intention to help me study and about 15 minutes later, we were baking cookies and uncorking a bottle of wine. We ended up finishing the bottle and talking about everything from skiing to peanut butter until 2am. Maybe I could've studied a bit more and maybe I could've used a few more hours of sleep, but man, am I glad he showed up when he did. Sometimes, the best way to survive the chaos is to pretend like it doesn't exist for a few hours. I got an A on my test by the way.

Clean your room

At this point, you're probably thinking, "This girl is insane if she thinks I'm going to go to the gym and take the time to organize my jeans this week." But, I can almost guarantee that you could use an excuse to procrastinate right now. I also know that your laundry situation is probably completely out of control. So put down that flashcard you've been staring at for the last ten minutes and toss a load in. Put away the mountain of shoes that's accumulated inside your front door. Run your dishwasher (you can make your roommate empty it later). Trust me, it will take you about 12 minutes to do all of these things and you will feel a million times better after they're done. Plus, your wardrobe will double in size once you can finally see the bottom of your laundry hamper again.

Do you

At the end of the day, you need to do what makes you happy. You will be any good to anyone if you're a blubbering mess or if you go MIA, so do what it takes to avoid a breakdown, even if that means dropping a leadership position or asking for an extension on a project. Sometimes, you've gotta woman up and grind out, but sometimes the only thing you can do is take a nap, get some froyo, and call your mom.