Hey, you.

Yeah, you.

So, it's Thursday night, and you're going out?

Don't you have a class at eight in the morning? And a paper due?

Don't you have responsibilities?

Okay. Allow me to give you some advice.

Responsibility is not only an important word, but also a major concept to understand all throughout life. It is taken in a variety of different life situations, such as when you have an obligation, when you have done something wrong and must make it right, and when you have caused an effect. Yet, it often coincides with time management and balancing so many different commitments at once. It is especially crucial to be responsible as a student and an employee because without taking responsibility, you would not be successful.

You know, I understand. I get that we are always busy, and sometimes, we just want to go out and unwind. As a busy college student who will be taking on fall semester courses, a bus driving job, and two editing positions all in September, I know I will have a lot of responsibilities on my plate. Obviously, my classes come first, but after I made my academic schedule, I chose to add these three extra obligations to my life. In that time, I thought about whether or not I could be responsible for everything I'm participating in. Would I be able to make enough time to fit everything into my schedule? Would I leave enough time to study and complete homework? Or a decent amount of working hours to make enough money? How about seven to eight hours overnight to sleep? Do I also understand that the amount of free time I may have will be very limited?

I came to the conclusion that I could balance my responsibilities.

I also thought to myself, what if I couldn't handle so many commitments at once? What would I do then? Would skipping classes, work, or an editor's meeting without notice be the responsible action to take?

Absolutely not. I have not experienced balancing all of these commitments yet, but if I ever feel like I am struggling to do everything at once, I will have to remind myself that I chose to do all of this.And if I made that poor of a decision to abandon the people who are depending on me, the responsibility is mine.

The bottom line is, nobody dragged me into this lifestyle but myself. I am responsible for my academic performance, whether it is good or bad. I am responsible for reporting for all of my work shifts on time. I am responsible for leading two writing staffs. Finally, I am responsible for whether or not I get enough sleep in the midst of enduring a crazy time frame.

If I realize this fall that this hectic schedule of mine is not working out for me, I will understand that creating it in the first place was my responsibility, and it will now be up to me to tone down my level of commitments so I can handle my schedule for the future.

Taking responsibility is an important habit to get into. After all, it will be extremely important in the real world when it comes to landing a full time career. The consequences for being unable to manage your lifestyle effectively will only become greater and greater as life goes on.

So, go on. I'm not here to tell you that you shouldn't go out and have a good time. Whatever you're doing sure sounds like fun anyway. I'm only warning you that if you wake up the next morning exhausted and without your paper complete, that is on you.