By Keziah Rutschow

Here’s the thing: beyond paying rent and tuition, the stress we put ourselves under to juggle every opportunity in our lives isn’t necessary. Every addition added to your schedule is a choice.

Personally, I could’ve gone down easier routes to help pay for things. Yet I keep choosing the more interesting, time-consuming options because, if you are anything like me, you may have a terrible case of FOMO (which I likely inherited from my mom).

I struggle to understand why I put so much on my plate. I bet a lot of you ask yourself the same question while walking to a lab, heading to a second job, or starting your day at the crack of dawn. You are not alone. But if you feel pressured to add one more thing to your plate, let me tell you what I learned after two years of recurring pressure as a student: it’s not social media telling me to do this or a classmate mentioning their cool summer internship; it’s me.

I came into college as a student-athlete expecting to be busy, but not nearly as busy as I am now. Living on 5 a.m. practices and seven hours of sleep, on a good day. I learned to work smarter, not harder. I became best friends with good ol’ time management. Yet no amount of scheduled Google Calendar hangouts and practice times makes these things any less tiring.

At the end of my first year, I added a paid job on top of athletics and a full course load. I had an amazing opportunity that I felt like I couldn’t give up. By sophomore year, I chose a minor after my advisors steered me away from double majoring. Then I took a second position with way more hours. Student-athlete, hopefully double major in progress, fifteen paid hours weekly, and a social life with many people I love. Even listing it out exhausts me. 

Saying yes to every opportunity thrown at you is difficult to manage. You must ask yourself if the exhaustion, resume, money, etc. is worth it. If you say yes, it is worth it; all I ask is that you treat rest not as something you have to earn, but as something necessary.

Stressful periods are normal and okay, but what matters is framing self-care as something that isn’t optional, it can’t just be a one-time spa day. It’s reflecting on what genuinely recharges you and then carving out intentional time the same way you’d carve out time for class or a shift. For me, it looks like leaving an unreasonable amount of time to get ready in the morning, or a nap at 5 p.m. even when there are class readings left undone. Even asking a professor for an extension because you need the day for something other than school, unapologetically.

If you couldn’t finish class readings and you’re stuck eating PB&J’s because meal prep doesn’t exist. That’s not failure; sometimes that’s how the cookie crumbles, as my boss says. 

Keziah is the science editor with an interest in crime & justice and politics