When you're trapped in a classroom, and the slow tick of the second hand on the clock is all you can concentrate on, what is the one thing that you wish you could be doing? If you had one second to chose, and after that second the opportunity was gone, what would you do?

The one thing that you would choose in a heartbeat is what makes you happy. Doing this at any time is likely to make you feel that the moments you are spending could never be wasted. It's almost impossible to describe this feeling, other than just content fulfillment.

For me, this is anytime that I am singing or performing. Anytime I'm doing this, I feel like I've stepped into a place in the world where everything is perfectly aligned. Like the puzzle piece I've tried in every spot has finally clicked into place revealing a beautiful picture. Nothing makes me happier than belting out a song on stage or even harmonizing along to the car radio (I like to call it "carmonizing").

For many people, this one thing that brings their lives into balance could be running across a finish line, picking up a paintbrush and putting the first strokes on a new canvas, or sitting outside and listening to the wind rustle in the trees. It doesn't have to be something you're good at, it doesn't have to be something to show off or put on display, and it doesn't have to be your career.

Too often I find that the mentality is that once you grow up and go to college, it's time to stop focusing on these silly hobbies and put all your effort into getting A's in the classes of your major so you can support yourself in the future. I cannot tell you how wrong that feels to me, to just throw away something that makes you genuinely, undoubtedly happy, to focus only on the future because you feel that you can only have one or the other and not both.

Now I'm not necessarily saying that you should throw away all your career ambitions to follow your dreams without any regard for the future. I just think that ignoring something you genuinely enjoy because you think that's "getting serious" about life is ridiculous. I'm not going to be on Broadway, and I'm not going to be at the Tony Awards anytime soon, but that doesn't mean I can't take the time to be involved in doing the things I love. I want to be a psychologist to make people's lives better, and doing musicals while I'm in college is in no way going to keep me from reaching that goal. If anything, being involved with theater makes my life better, and in doing so improves my performance in school and also makes me a happier person.

Doing what you love makes you happy. Ignoring the things that you enjoy because of a strange belief that you can't have the best of both worlds won't lead you to a fulfilled life. Will you be a little more stressed? Most likely. Will you have to work on time management and balancing your activities? Absolutely. But will you regret getting involved with something that makes you smile because you were worried about not being seen as serious enough about your studies? I highly doubt it, because the experience you gain in participating in something that you truly enjoy outweighs any foreseeable negative impact.

Go out there and audition for a show, sign up for art club, join a club sport, bake some cakes, go climb a mountain or lay on the grass with a good book. Go do what makes you happy and in turn you will be happy. It's as simple as that.