There are 24 hours in a day. That is 1,440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds to get everything done. 

This may seem like a lot of time, but to me, it feels like there is never enough time in my day to get everything done. Factoring in sleep, working out, homework, dance practice, college applications, clubs, and spending time with family and friends is difficult to manage. 

My junior year I was an editor of The Oracle, Co-president of Cookie Collective Club, volunteering with Interact, making instagram posts for Titan Nation, all while dancing for multiple hours on a competitive team five days a week. 

After school I was forced to immediately get my homework done as I had dance practice at night. I rarely saw my family as I was gone for dinner every night. During the weeks -of layout for the newspaper, I didn’t get home from school until 10:00 p.m. since I had to go to dance after layout ended at 7 p.m. -In general by the time I went to dance rehearsals I was so tired that it was hard to pay attention and I was getting injured more easily. The season started to drag and I thought I would not make it until the end of the season in July. 

I constantly felt behind in school and had to miss plans with my friends to be at dance. While I loved the activities I did, I got tired of being on the run all the time, and missing plans with my friends. 

I knew something had to give.

Coming into senior year, I made a tough decision – I stopped dancing competitively. 

This was a difficult decision since I had been competing for the past six years. Even though I loved dance, not competing allowed me to focus on my family, friends, and schoolwork. Especially for senior year I wanted the opportunity to slow down and enjoy it. 

Key Healthcare, a mental health clinic in Malibu, California, found that overcommitment is a regular occurrence among teenagers. People who overcommit tend to accept roughly 20 percent more work than they can manage.The psychologists at the clinic  recommend three things to reduce overcommitment:

• Learning to say no
• Knowing the priorities
• Setting limits

 I did each of these things as I navigated through my decision to stop competing and it significantly lowered my stress. 

The reality is sometimes we can’t do it all. 

I am now in my senior year and have a goal this year to not overcommit myself. Even though there is technically 1,440 minutes in a day, there are still sacrifices needed to be made in order to make room for other priorities.