I've always been the type of person who overloads herself with work.

People have literally had tiny strokes whenever they see the amount of scribbling my agenda contains.

Unfortunately, when I first moved to the US, this lovely but unfortunate quality of mine was put to the test.

I spent the first six months not being able to do anything as my citizenship was in process, leading me to losing a full semester of college.

I was behind, that was the only thing my brain could register.

So when college finally came around in a sunny day in January, I panicked.

I went to the first college that accepted me and started school. Unfortunately by the time I was a sophomore I knew I could do better and so I transferred to GWU. To my disadvantage, this decision brought even more consequences to my plate, I was behind a whole year, I had lost 20% of the credits I took back in Florida and was back to being a sophomore.

My brain fell into a pit of anxiety; so I did what I do best, I swamped myself in credits, a new job, a sorority and living by myself for the very first time. Plus the 3 clubs I joined at the beginning of the semester.

"I'm going to make it." I said to myself

"If I take 15-18 credits a semester plus summer classes I will graduate in 2018 just like I am supposed to."

"I can do this."

My body was running on only 3 1/2 or 4 hours of sleep and 3 cups of coffee each morning, and even though halfway through the semester I realized something was wrong, I did not stop.

I never allowed myself to settle, my obsession with keeping up with everyone led me to daily panic attacks and a severe anxiety by the end of December.

All I could do was compare myself to everyone surrounding me and everyone back home who was scheduled to graduate in 2018.

For the first time in my life, I did not recognize the reflection looking back in the mirror.

Luckily, how insanely unhappy I ended up feeling made me realize that life has no deadline, timeline or schedule.

This wasn't a race, this was college, everyone was figuring their path out.

No two experiences were going to be downright the same.

If Sussy from Miami had already landed her dream job at 21, that did not make her better than me.

At the end of the day there is no one better, or lesser than you who are. There is only you. Just because others are doing it right now doesn’t mean that I have to do it also. Just because others did it first doesn’t make my experience any less.

The problem with myself was that I was attaching a stressful sense of urgency to my work. I hurried myself to realize that my goals had to be done at an unnatural pace, instead of working towards them at my own individual speed.

Although it’s admirable to want to work relentlessly, there’s no reason to place pressure on yourself to be better faster.

I needed to stop rushing into success.

I needed to learn how to take it easy.

I have enough time to do great things.

I just have to continue doing what I love, with passion and at my own pace.

At the end, there is no age limit at succeeding at life.