I worked two jobs on top of being a full-time student. My hours were crazy; my schedule was crazy. At first, I thought I would be able to do it; well... I told myself that I needed to do it because if I didn't work two jobs, I wouldn't be able to pay my bills. I don't think I could have been any more wrong.

Sure, I was able to pay my bills but you know what I had to sacrifice? My health. My mental and physical health were absolutely gone. My physical health went first. I was getting sick all the time and then stressing out because I was sick. Then, I became more tired; it took a lot of effort to get out of bed for both class and work. I love both of my jobs but I never wanted to go to them because I was so exhausted and never feeling well. I started being late to everything. I would be so tired from going to school all day that I wouldn't want to go to work after and this resulted in me being late to my night job. From there, I would get off at 11:30 pm, be home by 12:00 am, and then have to be up at 6:00 am for my day job and I was always late to my day job.

Now, if you know me, then you know I am NEVER late to anything. I am the person who shows up ten minutes early because that is just who I am and that is how I alerted myself that working two jobs was ripping me to shreds. I was always tired, I cried every day because I was tired. Working two jobs basically broke me as a person. I stopped showing up to my morning classes because I just wanted to sleep and my grades started to drop, which made me stress even more.

My mental health was shredded too. I started isolating myself at first because I didn't want to hang out with anyone after having a long day of both school and work. I had one day off a month (yes, only one day), and it was always a Saturday, so you know what I did that one day off? I went out. The problem with that is that I would stay out too late and make unfit decisions because I treated that one day off like it was my last day on Earth. Then, when I had to work at 6:00 am that Sunday morning, I didn't want to go because I had stayed out until 2:00 am that morning and can you guess what happened? If you said that I was late to work, then you would be right. Overall, I was starting to live a very unhealthy lifestyle.

To those who are in the same boat as I was in, I know how important it is to pay your bills but I want you to know that your health is more important than any bill you have to pay. Working two jobs just is not worth it; it is not worth the mental stress and instability that you will experience. It is not worth always feeling tired.

You need to take days off for yourself. You need to realize that your mental health is more important than any job and any bill you may have. I need you to realize this now so you don't have to go through the unhealthy period that I went through for months. There is no need for you to learn this the hard way because I have a secret for you: working two part-time jobs on top of being a full-time college student is not worth it.