We all have one life with many things to do. Activities consume our schedule until we don’t enjoy the life we are living. My schedule is packed with junior year, a job, leadership at church, and relationships. All crammed into one schedule. Being overwhelmed by all the things we need and want to do that we end up doing none of it. 

   I think we all have heard that junior year is the hardest. Doubling up on math and science on top of taking AP classes, but I brought it upon myself. Don’t we all? On top of that, I have a part time job that never allows me to get home at a decent hour. This year I also started leadership at church which was a decision that I was so happy to make. But, my Wednesdays and Sundays are consumed with 4 hours of cleaning up, watching kids, and listening to sermons. I have designed my schedule to the point where I have no room to breathe, and that was the problem. I became a teen that is too exhausted to go out on a Friday night because every other day I’m immersed in tasks. I struggle with finding time to enjoy life, spend quality time with friends and family and get a goodnights worth of sleep. When do I get a day to be a little kid again? I am human after all. 

   This doesn't just go for teens though, this is a life that we are all living. Sometimes we feel as if the world is moving around us, yet we are frozen to our seats. There is no way for this obstacle in life to go away either. It will always come back but we need to know how to control it. Start filling your schedule with activities that you will learn to love instead of living in stress, anxiety or depression. That is no way to live. Breaking yourself down until you have nothing should not be an option anymore. Choose the things you love and then invest your time into them. Your mental health is your top priority and it should not be affected by how many things you want to accomplish each day. Know when your schedule is too full for unnecessary things. You will not be able to do multiple things until you have the mental capacity to do one thing.

Our schedules seem packed until you do the things that don't feel like an obligation. 

Classes are fun until you don’t understand it, sports are fun until you aren’t playing them, and a job is fun until you don’t want to go in early. Alter your schedule so you can have fun too. We need to learn to step back and do the things we love and remember why we did them in the first place. It’s not worth it to lose it.