Camila Mendes has been on the grind. It's been hard for the actor to find a moment of calm — a moment to breathe, a moment when she's not filming a new movie, wrapping up a season of Riverdale, or hopping between cities, meetings, and wardrobe fittings. "It's great, because it's all for good opportunities and things I want to do," Camila tells Teen Vogue.

But there is always a catch. "I seriously have problems when it comes to taking time to chill," she says. "I'm trying to learn how to be like, Do I need to say yes to this? Do I need to do that? Is it really worth it? Could I have a day for myself?"

So far the hard choices have been worth it. Camila, who is 24, is filming not one but two movies before Riverdale starts filming season four in July. She's also going to attend the exclusive, legendary Met Gala for the first time, and grappling with the pressures and public glory that can bring with it. It's a transformative time for the young star. During her first few years in Hollywood, she’s had to learn how to handle other people's assumptions about her while maintaining a sense of who she actually is and what she wants out of life, and for her burgeoning career.

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But that breather she's been craving has been hard to come by. So when it’s time for Camila to sit down with Teen Vogue for the May cover story, the busy Riverdale star suggests meeting at Color Me Mine, the paint-your-own-pottery studio with shops across the United States. She has one day off during a week of shooting a supporting role in the Andy Samberg comedy Palm Springs, and she wants to do something soothing. "Everyone's so anxious all the time, it's just a part of our lives," she says. "This whole week I haven't been able to stop and do something like this, you know? Something that's not necessarily productive."

The irony, of course, is that this interview is still work; another day that she does not have time to disconnect, to not be "on," to just be a 20-something zoning out in her apartment or Marie Kondo-ing her closet. Camila’s statement on her Twitter banner seems to fit the mood: "I want to cry but I have things to do." Pottery painting will have to suffice, for now. So Camila sits, brushing green paint over the edges of the ceramic jewelry box she's chosen as her project for the day. "This feels therapeutic," she says.