Slow down, you crazy child.

As the semester concludes, my peers and I spend multiple hours with our noses in books, preparing to face the last great hurdle of the year: final exams. The week before exams sends panic throughout campus; I cannot enter a room without overhearing a student discussing the probability of receiving a passing grade while pointing to a self-made spreadsheet of all his classes and corresponding scores earned throughout the semester.

With limited time left to solidify our grades, there seems to be so much to do and only so many hours in the day.

Universities collect ambitious groups of young adults filled with dreams of the future, often involving highly ranked positions in respectable companies and lavish lifestyles. Although competition for internships, research positions, and class rankings is steep, the most vicious opponent we face lies in the reflection in the mirror.

You're so ambitious for a juvenile.

I have a younger friend who actually mocks the idea of a good night's rest, claiming he would rather spend the night studying or working out in the hope of earning a football scholarship to a division one school. Seeing the bags under his eyes on his late night social media posts reminds me a little too much of my own high-speed and perfectionistic tendencies.

Slow down. You’re doing fine.

In high school, I took the dreaded ACT four times after receiving a sufficient score for my prospective universities. I desired perfection, not adequacy. I wish I could use that five pound Princeton Review study book to knock some sense into my unnecessarily stressed out sixteen-year-old self.

Don’t you know that only fools are satisfied?

Never smart enough. Athletic enough. Social enough. Witty enough. Attractive enough. Experienced enough. If you race yourself to a nonexistent finish line using self-esteem as fuel, you will always run empty to no avail.

Remember watching cartoons as a child and observing the classic scene of a puppy chasing a bone hanging just beyond reach of his snout? The treat dangles from a string attached to the dog’s back, so no matter how long he chases the bone, he will never reach it. Ironically enough, the solution lies attached to the panting, frustrated pup the entire time.

You laughed as a toddler, but grew up to be that animated dog.

Close those ambitious, wide eyes every now and then. You're so ahead of yourself, you forgot what you need (sleep, friend. you need sleep).

Leave for class five minutes early and enjoy the scenic route around campus. Your tuition pays for the maintenance of those delicate flower beds and elaborate architectural structures, so you might as well enjoy them.

After all, where's the fire, what's the hurry about?

Billy Joel grew up without his father, who left his family behind in the city that never sleeps while he ventured to Vienna, Austria. In his early twenties, Billy chased down his dad, traveling across the globe in hopes of receiving a couple decades worth of fatherly advice.

While the two were strolling the streets of Vienna, Billy spotted an elderly woman sweeping the sidewalk, and asked his father why the city did not recruit a younger, stronger citizen to take over the job. Surely a young man would clean much more efficiently.

What’s the rush, son? The woman is doing just fine. She’ll finish the job in time, enjoying the afternoon breeze in the process. Take your time, Ma’am. Vienna waits for you.