For years, I’ve illegitimately crowned myself a human stress ball. From balancing, or attempting to balance work, school and a seemingly interactive social life, it can get pretty hard to breathe sometimes.

On average, I work anywhere from 25-30 hours a week. This is Monday-Thursday as well as Saturday and Sunday. Clearly, I am a workaholic. If I worked anymore, some would consider it a full-time job– which is bonkers when I’m supposed to be a full-time student. As much as I love my job and the money along with it, it has most definitely taken a toll on my mental health.

On top of my after-school stress, my senior year classes have their own stressors and anxieties. This year, I’m taking four TJC dual credit classes as well as an on-campus TJC North course. My love for learning and ambition for success ultimately got the best of me as far as workload is concerned.

Although the first 6-weeks of my senior year has been one of the most stressful times of high school so far, I’ve analyzed myself in aspects of what I am able to do and what I am able to do well. Spreading myself too thin is not one of those things. I have found that by attempting to please the people at work and at school, as well as keep an active social life, I cannot function to my best abilities in all categories. This realization has led me to better organize my priorities— find out what I actually need to do as opposed to what my work ethic convinces me I need to do. My goals as of now are to lessen my hours at work—which is quite a tough thing for this workaholic I might add— put school and its priorities as my main focus and spend quality time with friends and family on the weekends, where I can really enjoy their presence and not be a worry-wart the entire time. I hope with this plan in mind, I can better balance the inevitable stress that is to come and alleviate the effect it has on my mental health.