My name is Lizzie. I am a seventeen year old from Indiana. I have always been known to not stop moving; I go from school to work to practice to home. I keep a tight schedule and work efficiently to keep myself from being too overwhelmed. There was a point in my life, however, when I did not. I was going into my freshman year when I learned about an extra math course I could take in the morning before school. You had to test into it, so when I got it, I decided I could not miss the opportunity. I came to school an hour early and received up to two hours of homework every night. On top of that, I had my regular courses to take and homework to complete for those. After school, I would head straight to basketball practice. I would attend practice for around four hours, and then finally come home at 7:30pm. Then, it was time to start my homework. I would finish sometime after eleven pm, and then shower and eat. It became a busy routine, until I became restless. My thoughts were all over the place. At school, I thought about the improvements I needed for practice. At practice, I thought about all the homework I had to complete. At home, I thought about all the sleep I was missing and how early I had to be up. My grades began to drop at school. My work ethic began to fall. My coaches, my family, my teachers all noticed my shift of mood. I was pulled aside by many, “you look overwhelmed.” But it was my mom who made me rethink my choices. “Do you want to keep doing this?” she asked me one night. I didn’t. I wanted more time to spend with friends, more time to sleep, and more time to just chill out. I decided I couldn’t do it all. I emailed my math course teacher and told him that I would not be able to finish the year. I immediately felt a weight lifted off my shoulders. I still took my regular math, and knew I did not need the extra homework and loss of sleep. This decision bought me four hours in my day. I started taking more time for myself and I felt like the old me. My grades went back up, I felt energized at practice, and I was in a better mood. This experience taught me that putting time into too many things does not make me a hard worker, it makes me a bad one. Setting time aside for myself is what I needed, and something I still put effort into today. Doing many activities poorly is not as beneficial as doing fewer activities with the best outcome.