In life, we go through highs and lows. That's easy enough for us to understand. However, what is difficult for us to comprehend is how to stay positive during our lows so we can once again make it to our highs. I've been struggling with this recently. Let's just say that finding positivity and the motivation to keep going for me has been difficult this semester of college. Let me correct myself already. It's been extremely difficult.

I'm a sophomore this year which means that I finally get to start taking more classes actually related to my major. You would think this is a good thing until you realize how much more stressful those classes are. Think about your general education English classes for a second. Unless you were an English major, did you really enjoy that class and want to impress your professor? Neither did I., Of course, I wanted to make a good impression on my professor but the point I'm making is that that wasn't my future career, and that made me feel less stress when trying to perfect my assignments. So you have 15 hours of class per week and are encouraged to spend two more hours of studying outside of the classroom for every credit hour you take. Adding that up, that comes to 45 hours per week.

Now take all of those new classes that actually relate to your major and add extracurricular activities and student organizations. That's a lot of commitment. I spend at least half of my week every week devoting time to student organizations I'm involved in. This may not be true for you, but it is very true for a large percentage of college students. In fact, 62.4 percent of college students participate in extracurricular activities. We have to build our resumes, and one of the ways to do that is through student involvement outside of the classroom. So, out of our time available in a week (168 hours), college students give an average of 16 hours per week to student involvement opportunities.

Oh, and how will you pay for college and a place to live without a job? That's right. You can't do it without a job unless you have parents that are blessed enough to pay for your housing, food and all of those other things essential to living. So how much does it cost to live? Right now, way more than college students can afford. The maximum amount of hours you can get at a job as a college student is typically 15-20 hours per week. At minimum wage, that's definitely not enough to survive. So what do we do? We work two jobs. That's around 30-40 hours a week working.

College students should also get at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. That's 48-56 hours of sleep per week.

Now, let's add all of these numbers up. They all add up to college students spending 139-157 hours per week doing activities required to stay alive, get good grades and build that resume for the future. Here's the problem: that only leaves 11 hours of free time per week for the typical college student. Those 11 hours are usually spent sleeping more, studying more, participating in more campus activities or partying. Where is the time for self-care?

According to Mental Health America, staying positive is a key factor to success in life. So, as I sit in my room writing this article at 4 a.m., I'm wandering through my head trying to figure out why I've been so negative and feeling hopeless this semester. I beat myself up constantly because I truly want to be the best at everything I do.

I don't know what the answer for my problem and many college students' problems concerning self-care are, but I do know one thing: we are expected to do way too much, and I hate it. I want to be successful in my future, but is this really worth it? I struggle each week to keep going.

All I can say is that we only have four years of this. Take your 11 hours of free time each week and devote them to self-care. Here is a list of activities that are considered self-care. Do them. Stay positive. Or at least try to with me.