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.

Quick morning insight:

Regardless of whatever your circumstances are, with school, friends, family, loved ones, etc., you always have a choice. Let that sink in for a second. Although you don’t get to control the people that come into your life and how they ultimately impact you, you do get to control the attitude that you confront each day with. You get to choose that for yourself. Yes, curve balls get thrown into the mix, they always will. But if you can wake up and think to yourself, “I’m going to do the very best job that I can in order to make the best of the day” — even if the day presents you with frustrating or aggravating circumstances, then you can fall asleep content knowing that you didn’t let your circumstances control you. Work through your circumstances with optimism. That’s really the best that anyone can do.