16 years. 195 months. 846 weeks. 5917 days. 142,028 hours. 8,521,718 minutes. 511,303,105 seconds.

That's how long I've been alive.

I've completed preschool through ninth grade. I've learned to play the violin. I've gone on road trips. I've celebrated Christmases. I've suffered through colds. I've stayed after school on newspaper production nights.

But there are so many activities that I wish I could have done and still more that I would like to do, despite the fact that I will probably never be able to do them.

I simply don't have the time.

There are not nearly enough hours in a day. How am I supposed to go to school, do my homework, participate in an after-school activity, work, sleep and still have time to relax-all in a measly 24 hours?

I'm pretty sure it's humanly impossible.

Yet I desperately want to be able to do it all.

Being a perfectionist, I can't let myself get away with not doing homework assignments or doing those assignments half-heartedly. I'm taking seven classes, many of them AP or honors classes. So, I have a lot of homework almost all the time. Being in newspaper and orchestra requires a substantial time commitment outside of class. Teaching violin lessons several days a week also eats away at my time.

Heaven forbid, if I should come home after staying late at school, give violin lessons and finish my boatload of homework before the sun goes down, I might be able to walk my dogs or go to the store. By then it will inevitably be time for me to go to bed.

And I still will not have completed my ambitious to-do list for the day.

I've had to learn to prioritize.

I'll never have time to participate in all the extracurricular activities I would like to, nor will I be able to devote tons of hours to working or volunteering.

If only there were five more hours-or even one more hour-in a day. My life would be so much more leisurely and less stressful.

But no one's going to extend the days for me anytime soon. Life is short. So, I must make the most of my time and live every day to its fullest potential.

Consider the words of author and motivational speaker Harvey MacKay, who once said, "Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back."