I’m a college student with a part time job and a ton of extra curricular activities. I also still try to maintain my social and family lives. It’s hard. Sometimes, I’m not sure how everything will get done. Sometimes I get to the point of stress where I don’t find satisfaction in completing one task because I know there will be five more after it. It’s exhausting. And for those college students that have children … I commend you. I don’t know how you do it, because I’m struggling just trying to take care of myself.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is to take a step back and find a little time for yourself. It may seem impossible with the laundry list of things you have to do, but it’s important to try.

Nothing good can come from you pushing yourself to your extreme limits. Everyone needs a break sometimes. It doesn’t have to be long, just enough to give yourself a little peace to help you through. It just has to be long enough to relieve yourself enough so that you carry through the rest of your duties.

Take a few minutes to do something you enjoy. Read a few chapters of a good book, meditate, take a nap, grab dinner with your friends, have a movie night with your significant other. Do something that will alleviate some of your stress and replace it with positive feelings and good memories.

We live in a society that expects too much out of us. Society tells us that if we’re not overworking ourselves, then we’re not working hard enough. We are getting less and less sleep and piling on more and more work to prove ourselves. We’re trying to claim our place and set a path for our futures. It’s easy to get caught up in all of the hustle and bustle and deny yourself one of the things you desperately need: rest.

Rest doesn’t always mean sleep, either, though you do need that desperately. Rest can be anything that relaxes you and makes you feel a little more peaceful.

It’s hard to look at your overflowing “To Do” list and make yourself walk away. It’s hard to relax when you know you have so much to do. Trust me, I get it. It seems like your time isn’t your own. It’s your boss’s, your professor’s, your family’s, your organization’s, but never your own.

You can only keep this up for so long, though. Eventually you’ll reach your breaking point, and then it’ll be even harder to recover. It’s better, in the long run, to allow yourself a little time here and there.

This is something you need to do. You deserve it. Take a step back and find some joy in the little things. Don't be so focused on the future that you forget to enjoy the present. When you look back, you'll want something good to remember; not just an endless tirade of stress and anxiety. Take some time for yourself.