It’s Monday, and you’re already feeling overwhelmed with your responsibilities for the week. You're trying to balance school, work, your personal relationships, and a million other little tasks that there is never enough time for. I get it. I’ve been there, and in my senior year of high school, I am certainly feeling the stress too.

What makes matters worse is that everyone's cumulative stress can weigh on you, and make it feel like there is no chance for peace in your life. It doesn't have to be like that, though.

Here’s why I’ve decided to stop saying “I’m so busy” every 10 seconds.

Here’s why I’ve decided to stop valuing myself by the number of tasks I have on my to-do list.

Here’s why I’ve decided to stop glorifying my stress.

Now, know that I am in no way invalidating your stress. It’s real, it’s justified, and I don’t blame you for the situations you’re in. However, there comes a time where you can take charge over your own life, and managing your stress from within can do wonders for you.

I don’t believe that you can wish away your responsibilities, or meditate your to-do list into oblivion, but you can certainly control your attitude and perspective.

Stress impacts everyone at some point in life, and that is uncontrollable. What we can control is whether or not we let our stress define us, and let it distract us from what’s really important in life.

So, I challenge you to stop boasting about your stress. Far too often, we turn our to-do lists into a competition.

We battle it out to see who is more entitled to feel overwhelmed, and who really has the most on their plate. In reality, everyone copes differently, and we shouldn’t compare what we can handle, and take it a step further to decide who is stronger, or better, or more capable because of that.

Telling someone about everything that you have to do in no way helps you to get it done. Not to mention that constantly rattling off your excuses is tiring for you, too.

I believe that, deep down, many of us choose to find our worth in the bulk of our impending tasks. By recognizing that you are so much more than the list of things you do every day, you can stop glorifying your stress, and help to reduce our overwhelming culture of business.