There are times, especially during college, when it seems like every test, project and paper is due the same week, sometimes even the same day. On top of that, last minute meetings get scheduled, you have to put in extra hours at work or your internship, and if you’re a senior, you also have interviews to extensively prepare for. What you once thought you had a solid grip on begins to slip out of control, and if you’re anything like me, your mind races wondering “okay…okay…how am I going to do all of this? where do I start? what is going to take the most time?”.
Doing this can drive you nuts. And it will if you let it. The key is to remove yourself from the situation for a short period of time. You have to be able to look at it from the outside so that you can gain perspective on how to prioritize your seemingly endless to-do list. It’s easy to get bogged down and overwhelmed with everything that piles up in your life. The best thing you can do for yourself is to take a deep breath, step away from everything for a few minutes, understand the situation for what it truly is, and then take it on full force with a clear and collected mindset.
Confidently Katie 
Putting things into perspective is the best way to deal with being overwhelmed. I’m always making lists of things I need to do and then subsets of that list of more specific things and then lists within that and so on. I just LOVE lists. Clearly I can sometimes get a little wrapped up in it all.
I’ve found what really helps me to get my mind of myself and how hard my super stressful life is (so dramatic), is to volunteer! Even if you can’t commit to everyday, every week, or even every month- just every so often going and helping other people out. You completely forget about yourself and your to-do lists for a couple hours. It’s wonderful. And it’s beneficial for the people you are helping. While you serve up a hefty plate of chicken and beans to a woman and her three kids who otherwise wouldn’t have a dinner, your three papers, final exam, extra hours at work and 5 loads of laundry suddenly don’t seem so bad.
Nice blog, gf!
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You are so right about the volunteering! This past Sunday was the Shoes for Shelter 5K at Canisius, and since I busted my knee and couldn’t run it, I volunteered for it. There was a man who was doing the race in a wheelchair and after all of the runners were finished, myself and a few other athletes stayed and finished the race with him. He beat his time from last year by over 30 minutes and just witnessing him push himself up those hills and finishing the race so strongly had quite an impact on me. I was so impressed with his tenacity and drive. It’s things like that which make me grateful for what I have, even if I get bogged down with school work and god knows what else. You hit the nail on the head with your comment! P.S – I am also a list fanatic! Must be something with us COM majors… hope you’re doing well!
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