Only you can decide what's too much for you. Others can't tell you that.

if you have to jump around in the shower to get wet then you're stretched too thin

I was more looking for pointers on how to deal with it... What has worked for others sometimes can do the trick....

Stress Busters

Pray daily. It will get easier with practice.

Use a calendar and a journal to keep up the details of a hectic life.

Make a worry list and spend an hour a week, or if you must an hour a day thinking through your concerns and brain storming solutions then spend another hour actually resolveing what you can then put it out of your mind.

Eat breakfast every day. Juice, protein, wholegrain, and milk. Skip the Caffine. Streach and exercise if you need to jump start your energy.

Carry a water bottle and fill it twice daily. Dehydration contributes to muscle fatigue, spasams, headaches, and poor digestion which all contribute to stress.

Take a generic multi-vitamin and skip all the vitamin energy drinks. They can cause serious health issues. Many have basiclly over the counter amphetimines.

Study in the morning when your brain is more absorbent.

Spend time with a friend or mentor each day or at least several times a week. In the bar does NOT count. On line friends are great but they can not replace in person contact. I am not talking about co-workers or the cashier at the store.

Do not work yourself to the ground to support a vehical. Get a bike or a bus pass and park the vehical as much as possible; or trade in what you have for a cheaper vehical.

Find a house share situation while you are in school. Could be that you could do better in and on campus school as a dorm advisor. Or a house parent for a group home. As a pair of strong hands for a senior.

Do not assume that the only way you can increase income as a student is working. Go on line and apply for scholarships. Check in and see if while you have limited means if you qualify for discounts or rebates. You are probably qualified for $350 Renter's rebate for one. I could suggest others. If you are a VET there are a lot of resources there.

Go to bed before you are exhausted. If you get too tired you will not rest well. You get really tense and put your arms over your head (not uncommon for Vets or people who are sleeping in noisey areas) which will give you chest spasams. If you have a poor rest schedule you may have to train yourself to go to sleep. Relaxation techniques and routines and cleaning up your sleep environment can help a lot.

Last but not least Put this all in a frame. You can either be young and stressed and poor for a few short years while you are in school or you can live your whole life that way and be old and stressed and poor.

Hope some of these work for you. Hugs!

If you puke blood when you gag yourself brushing your chompers in the a.m....then, yep! Time to re-assess.

Otherwise...forge ahead, dude!

All BS and kidding aside...if you find yourself physically, emotionally, mentally AND spiritually bankrupt at the end of the day, it is time to take a serious look at things.

Certainly does not mean you need to give anything up, just take an HONEST look at your life and intelligently assess if you are biting off more than you can chew right now.

Some things are critical...most things can potentially be addressed and realized later.

Choose wisely.

When your needs arent met.

I really do try to have a normal sleep pattern. I try to sleep from 930pm to 530am, but every once in a while something unexpected happens that causes me to stay up later than I want. As for the living situation, I live with some friends of mine whom I've known for a decade now, and while things cause small arguments from time to time we get along great. I do need to work on the caffeine problem, though. The first thing I do in the morning when I wake up is open up something full of caffeine, and yes, I should really invest in multi-vitamins. I actually hadn't put too much thought into the theory that my mental stress and fatigue could cause my physical problems. I will definately have to look into that more and see if vitamins or losing the caffeine helps that. Thanks for all the advice!

Work less, fish more.

You're stretched too thin if you can't afford your lifestyle, or you sacrifice your happiness just so you can afford it.

JMO

Caffeine gnaws on your stomach lining and can increase your stomach acid which can then "reflux" back into your esophagus -- this can cause chest pain also. Smoking is also bad for stomach issues, and alcohol and aspirin/ibuprofen are big "no-no's" if you have any stomach trouble.

I am currently working 1-1/2 jobs, sometimes a 3rd part-time job for a few weeks at a time. I am doing this out of necessity, problems with my house, etc. Want to cut back to normal hours eventually, I just try to keep telling myself that someday I will cut back to normal hours. I do take vitamins also.

It's not so much that I can't afford my lifestyle. It's the fact that I pay $250 for rent (which is a steal), but I'm also paying $185.25 a month for school, as well as my $100 a month for my car, which I bought from a friend so he's really flexible on the payments, which is great. The rest of it basically comes down to gas, food, the occasional vet bill, and recently my car has been acting up (since I'm the third owner, but the first one that knows how to fix a car) so I've been having to buy replacement parts. While it may be cheaper than taking it to a shop, it still adds up. I still need to get new brakes and new struts, then everything should be good. Unfortunately, all these odds and ends expenses add up to my entire check, so I really have no choice other than to get a second job, but my health might be suffering slightly (pinched nerves, chest pains, exhaustion, etc.) I have a habit of pushing myself too much, but these days it almost seems necessary.

I know I am definitely NOT stretching myself too thin. I'm 5'4", 210 lbs, round, a densely packed hunk of cute, worldly pleasure.

Buddha would say, I'm sure, that your chest pain is caused by your own chest. If you had no chest, ...you would be just as short as I am, because your neck would grow out of the top of your belly.

I'd like to beat up your social $##!ing life, too. Where does the line-up form?