I’m tired. I have a lot to do and yet here I am, sitting at one of my many work-study jobs, writing an article. Not because I have to (well I do need to make my weekly quota), but because I want to. I was thinking recently, contemplating on why I keep such a busy schedule. Why is it that I continue to push myself, more and more, each year? Or rather, how do I do it? And yet, it’s still kind of hard to answer that question.

So here’s my attempt.

Currently, I’m a Junior at Furman University in my fall semester of the year. I’m a double major in Music (B.A.) and Japanese Studies. My overarching goal is to make a career out of creating content. One of my goals within that is to compose video game music. Ask anyone that I know and they will tell you that I am pretty much always tired, always busy, and yet for some reason I keep pushing forward.

Without describing every waking detail of my life, I’ll just say that my schedule is hectic. Yes, it seems impossible at times. But again, I continue to do it. I’m like the energizer bunny, doing my best to just keep going.

So why do I do it? Why am I so involved with so many things?

I guess it starts with my childhood. I’ve always been an overachiever. When I was in Elementary school, I was the very quiet kid that went to school just to do my work. I did my homework in advance, read through some of my textbooks, and only had a couple of friends. For the most part, I stayed out of trouble and I helped a lot at home in taking care of my younger siblings and working around the house.

In middle school, I started playing the trumpet and found out that music was my passion. In 7^th grade, I was playing with the high school marching band and taking an Honors class. In 8^th grade, I took two high school Honors classes. Once I got in high school, it just continued to pile up. All of my classes were at least an Honors level class. I took every single AP class my school offered, ran the high school Jazz Band by myself, was Band captain in a Marching Band that had more problems than could be solved, and continued to help at home. Plus, I was in a few other clubs and extracurricular activities and started working at a grocery store Senior year. Oh and getting ready for college.

My sole purpose in life was to go to college. It was what my parents wanted for me, it was what my teachers wanted for me, and most importantly – it was what I wanted for myself. I had known that I wanted to go to Furman since I was in Elementary school. I had knew that I wanted to major in Music since 6^th grade (though I originally wanted to be a Music Ed major, I ended up changing to just a B.A.). My life was always planned out and the best part of it was that I planned it out.

Rather I thought I was.

Sure I was making these steps towards a greater picture and while I regret being involved with so much in high school, I know that being involved made me a stronger person. But I also have this problem.

I always want to do more. Learn more, be more skilled, contribute more, create more. The list goes on and I know it’s not a bad problem to have. I could’ve been the kid that slept in my 5^th grade class and never did his work (of course, I’ve had my own share of falling asleep in class, due to exhaustion). I could’ve been the kid that snuck out of school and skipped classes to play video games or break the law. I could’ve been the kid that was lazy and never turned in their homework. So it could be worse.

But instead, I constantly overwork myself to the point of exhaustion and it’s almost like there’s nothing I can do about it. When I commit to something, I see my way through it. When I make a personal goal, I do my best to make that goal. It’s like I have this obsession to be a better person. I mean honestly, turn to me and tell me that these goals are bad:

• -Run a mile everyday
• -Practice Trumpet, Piano, and Drum set everyday
• -Study Japanese at least 3 times a week

And these are just the tip of the iceberg.

So how do I do it? Honestly, I don’t know. In fact, I’ve yet to figure out how I’m able to work as much as I do. All I know, is that I never feel like I get a true break from anything. If I’m not working on anything school or work related, I’m working on my creative content. My to-do list is always getting larger, but somehow I’m still making some progress.

I don’t even really have a strategy on how I do these things. Sure, I schedule out my week, I find time in between scheduled priorities, to do other priorities. I stay up late at night sometimes to get certain things done. I sometimes sacrifice social time, to work on my own creative content. It’s a culmination of a lot of things, I suppose.

The hardest part, is that I don’t understand where my energy comes from. As I said earlier, I’m always tired. I never truly feel like I have energy, I just keep pushing. This can of course be detrimental at times, since I suffer from chronic migraines, but I feel like the rewards will outweigh the risk.

So I wanted to have some kind of advice, something tangible in this article that can be used for someone who may feel like they’re too busy. Here we go:

1. Keep Pushing – Sometimes you don’t know what you’re capable of until you let go and just keep pushing forward.

2. Watch your health – Mental and Physical. Find some way to incorporate at least 15 minutes of physical activity in your day. Take the long walking route to your room at night. Attempt to eat healthy and drink a lot of water. More importantly, have somebody to vent to and find a social group. Sometimes we push mental health aside and that can be very detrimental.

3. Prioritize – Seriously, write down all of your priorities and see if there’s something you can take away for the time being. It may suck that you had to get rid of something, but sometimes that’s the best thing you can do.

4. Time Yourself – For times where you have to get a task done, time yourself. See how long it takes for you to study for a certain class or practice your foreign language. That way the next time you set to do that task, you’ll know exactly how long it takes and you can set a timer.

5. Try to Sleep – This is tough for me. I set out to get at least 7.5 hours and I end up practicing too late, watching too many YouTube videos, or having too much work to accomplish, so I end up with less sleep. I hate the fact that I have to sleep and science still has yet to understand why we have to sleep, but it’s important. So try to prioritize it.

Did I accomplish something in this article? I hope so. To put it all into perspective, I’m just a guy attempting to be great in many aspects of my life and trying to make a career in a field that is almost entirely luck based. So let’s see if my hard work increases my chances.