Love, Lucy is the New School Free Press’ weekly advice column, where writers anonymously share thoughtfully researched solutions to your questions about life. Send submissions through Love, Lucy’s official Google Form, and you might hear back from Lucy herself. This week we will be talking about the end of the semester crunch and how to regroup when time feels like it’s running out!

Lucy,

The semester is winding down and I feel like I’m running out of time. I haven’t accomplished all the things I thought I would. How do I reconcile this and regroup?

From,
Time Keeper

Dear Time Keeper,

First off, take a deep breath.

Okay, great. Now let’s talk.

Time is a tricky thing, and as constant as it is, we humans tend to have what feels like a chaotic relationship with it. We either think we have way too much of it or not nearly enough. However, the truth is, neither is the case.

Time is fixed.

Even with daylight savings time and the prediction of shorter days in a couple hundred years or so, we can all look forward to the sun rising and setting in a 24-hour rhythm — for now, anyway. So consider this: if time is constant and fixed, why do we feel like it’s out of our control? Why does it feel like it’s “running” out?

Here are the facts:
Time doesn’t run — it just is.

So if it feels like the speed button of time has been pressed, you’ll likely find that the culprit isn’t time speeding up at all — it’s that the finger on the button is your own. Somewhere in your mind, you have convinced yourself that time is running — That your life is out of your control.

This feeling causes anxiety and overwhelm. And operating under that pressure leads to burnout, stress, and ironically, experiencing the real thief of time — because that kind of stress actually shortens our lives.

I don’t want that for you, dear Time Keeper.

So here are some practical ways to rewire your feelings around time and get back in sync with it:

One: Don’t be the hero. Don’t try to ‘save time.’

It won’t work.
Going to sleep late, isolating yourself, burning the candle on both ends, skipping meals, passing on showers — please, especially not the last one.

Always prioritize your physical, mental, and spiritual health. Without any of them, you wouldn’t need to worry about time because — you’d be a vegetable.

School won’t always be on your list of things to accomplish — but you will.

And when the pressure gets really bad, ask yourself:

• What would actually happen if I missed this deadline?
  
• What happens if I reschedule this meeting?
  

Usually? Not much.

People have grace.
Email your professor. Reschedule that appointment. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself.

When it comes down to your health or your work — choose yourself.

Two: Make a system.

Not just a cute calendar your mom gave you for your birthday. Not a task list scribbled on a crumpled piece of paper.

A system.

Yes, I am saying it’s time to mature a little.
Craft something marvelous that helps you manage your life sustainably.

You know it’s a good one when it brings you ease — when you feel like you could run a whole household with it.

Well-run businesses have workflow systems. CRMs. Project boards. Schedules everyone adheres to. That’s how operations stay smooth.

Your life deserves the same respect.

Get yourself a calendar and a notebook.
Google Suite has them both for free if you prefer digital.

Write your life down:

• What’s on the agenda this month?
  
• What three goals matter most before the semester ends?
  
• When/where are your meetings?
  
• What tasks are floating in your mind (likely a million)?
  

Put. It. On. Paper.

Below are a few tools to help as you build your “executive functioning workflow”:

• Weekly Planner Google Sheets Template:WEEKLY PLANNER Google Sheets Template – Monthly Calendar – Daily Schedule Spreadsheet
  
• Organize Your Life in One Book (YouTube): Organize Your Life in One Book: Creating A Planner That You Will Use #organizedlife #giveaway
  
• 10 Principles to Organize Your Life (Todoist): 10 Principles to Organize Your Life (And Keep It That Way)
  

Lastly: Let go.

You’re only human.

Even with a system, you will probably run through several until you find one that sticks. You will not get all of your day done as perfectly as you’d like, and you might go out this semester in a falling-flying kind of way.

And the world will not end.
You will not fail college.
People will not hate you.

You will simply have done your best.

Take a breath.
But more importantly — take your time.

Because even when it doesn’t feel like it — you do have enough of it.

I promise.

Love,
Lucy