It is safe to say I’m a busy lady. I make to-do lists in my sleep, organize my calendar every night before I go to bed and carry granola bars in my handbag because it is not guaranteed that I will eat. This is the life of a busy college student, and I learned the hard way that all work and no play makes an unglamorous life. As a Libra, you would think I have this whole “balance” thing down, but sadly, my life leans more to the work side than play.

Without that balance in our lives, we risk the chance of missing out on opportunities- getting a good laugh in, indulging responsibly in some $2 martinis, even meeting that special someone who makes your knees weak.  Now, this does not mean forget about school and other responsibilities. You will still be held accountable for that. It’s important, though, to know when to say “no” and when to manage your time so you have a few extra hours to hang with your roommates or catch a movie – something that doesn’t require much brain power.

I bet you are thinking that this is easier said than done. In fact, it’s harder for those who have worked so hard; they often don’t know how to stop and enjoy life. It’s sad, but this world is filled with workaholics who can’t even sit in the living room with their families long enough without checking an e-mail, making a phone call or doing work on the computer. For those workaholics, like myself, we have to take baby steps to finding a social life. We can’t dive head first into the party scene or we’ll drown. We will start to feel out of control and not like ourselves. I’d like to think of finding a balance between work and play like Alcoholics Anonymous.

“Hi, my name is Angie and I’m a workaholic,”

“Hi, Angie.”

This is how it all starts. Acknowledge that there is an issue and address it. Once there has been acceptance that you may be working a little too hard, the next steps can begin. Start by prioritizing your responsibilities. It is clear that school should come first; $42,000 plus for tuition is a lot of money to waste. After your schoolwork is done, everything else (job, campus organizational duties, etc.) comes in line.  Do all your work to the best of your ability and manage your time. Write a list of all the things you have to do and do them one at a time. You will begin to see that fighting one battle at a time brings a quicker war. After everything is finished, know when to put it away. Let me repeat myself: Put. It. Away.

Now is the time for the hard part- having fun. For some, this may be easy because they are surrounded by fun people everywhere they look, but for others, this may require some searching. Fun doesn’t have to mean walking barefoot to Tucks or getting wasted at some seedy bar. Get your roommates together, grab some blankets, a deck of cards and head out to The Fly for a relaxing sunset, laughing and beating your friends in a round of Spades. Whatever you define as fun, do it. You will get a chance to forget about all the papers, tests and work duties and just chill. Just try it for a few days. I bet you’ll see a difference in yourself: you’ll laugh more, probably sleep more and just feel a better balance in your life. Take every day one day at a time and realize that you should work as hard as you play and play as hard as you work. Trust me, it’s possible; you just have to take a chance and dive in… after you handle your business, of course.