Responsibility has been drowning me in a sea of to-do lists and it's been difficult to catch my breath - to arise from underneath the weight of deadlines to see the shore of rest. Every time I seem to emerge after a completed task, another wave of forgotten calendar dates engulfs me and I am tumultuously tossed again.

I've tried to stop doggy paddling.

I've tried to just breathe.

But I feel guilty for stopping.

Isn't there something I'm forgetting? Don't I have to fill up this free hour of my day with an intentional conversation with someone?

After examining the bumps and bruises left by the waves of my packed schedule and unending assignments, I've decided it's time to be selfish with my time.

It's time to be productive with my free hours.

It's time to make plans with friends after my assignments are done.

It's time to grant myself hours of endless driving and jamming out to feel-good music.

It's time to turn off my phone and allow myself to be vulnerable in a space of silence.

It's time to build sections of alone time into my calendar week.

Yeah, maybe it's time to be selfish. And maybe it's time to stop feeling guilty about it. Because being selfish with my time might be the lifeboat I can cling to amidst the rolling waves of responsibility.