It's Friday at 10 p.m., you've just gotten out of a nine hour shift, and you have another full shift tomorrow. You have an assignment due at midnight and family visiting tomorrow, and you know that you've also got to plan the minutes for your club meeting, attend three other meetings, apply to more internships, make time to work out and finish that project for that class you hate. You've got to tutor at 8 tomorrow morning, and –oh!, you can't forget, you promised your time tomorrow night to your friend who's going through a hard time.
Stop.
Take a deep breath, and just stop. You, the student who is doing everything, and yet nothing for yourself. You, who has planned for every hour of the day in your planner, created a time-line crucial for your post-grad success. Put it all down, for just a moment, and breathe.
Know this: you are probably doing too much. Before you object, of course, you can do it all. You are strong, focused and determined. But you shouldn't do it all.
Yes, these years of our lives are crucial. We are deciding our career paths, making connections, working to build our futures. We are surrounded by distractions: parties, potential and significant others, friends and Internet like never before (hello, 12 hour Grey's Anatomy binge!).
In this fast paced world, where we are told continuously that our chances of a post-grad job are growing ever slimmer, our dream fields are dying and that the cost of tuition yes, just got higher again, it's no wonder we're burning ourselves out.
For those of us that are fiercely passionate and stubbornly determined, we begin to take on too much. It starts off as only a little. We convince ourselves to take 18 credits in order to graduate in time. Then, we take on a job to make ends meet and start saving (graduation is just around the corner!). Soon, we're acing internships we can't turn down and volunteering resume-building time we just don't have .
Trust me, I've been there. I am there, and every day, it gets a little harder. Life is hard, so sometimes that's okay. But if you are beginning to wake up every morning knowing you do not have a second to yourself, something needs to change, or your body and mind will punish you for it.
Your GPA will not plummet if you study a little less for your exam tomorrow. Sometimes, your campus organization will be okay without you 24/7. Your place of work will not fire you if you request a day off, and your finances will be okay without one minimum wage five hour shift.
This week, make an effort to schedule out time for you, and then please, use this time as a chance to not think about the million things you have to do.
Now take a deep breath, and remember this: You are enough with or without your busy schedule, your resume and your perfect grade point average. If everything that you hold on so tightly disappears tomorrow, you are worth just as much. You are just as valuable, just as talented. Stop trying to prove yourself by wearing yourself thin.
This week's mantra: Yes, I can, but it doesn't mean I have to.
