BALANCE - CAN YOU HAVE IT ALL?

This past semester, I made it my mission to overexert myself. It wasn't intentional, but by the end of this semester, I realized that this was precisely what I did. On top of my five courses, I served as the Co-President of a club and Communications Chair of another, worked 8 hours a week as an Undergraduate Research Fellow, and taught English classes to English language learners. When you put it on paper, it doesn't sound that bad. But, when you factor in the time needed to dedicate to each task for each activity, it becomes way too much for one person to handle. 

I still made time to be social and dedicated my weekends to spending time with friends, going out, and enjoying being a college student. There were some times when I had to back out of weekend plans with friends because I hadn't finished my 8 hours of work each week or nights when I opted to stay in to study for my upcoming exam. This, though, is usual college stuff. 

On top of everything else this semester, I decided to go sober, which, admittedly, probably was what allowed me to keep up this pace. I didn't deal with hangovers or hanganxiety, and I was able to truly focus on my mental health and well-being amidst my crazy, jampacked schedule. Instead of rotting in bed on Saturdays/Sundays like I was used to, I was up to go start work for the day to allow me to continue having fun that weekend. 

I had a lot of fun this semester, for sure, and it was arguably my favorite semester so far in college. One thing I realized, though, is that I wouldn't say I liked having every second of my day booked. I always knew I liked to be busy, but I had never been this busy. Despite wanting to keep a busy schedule, I also enjoy my downtime. I like to have no time constraints, and sometimes I like to just be. I had moments of this this past semester, but they were definitely an anomaly. As I thought about it, I realized I had done this all to myself. No one was asking me to do this much all at once, and no one was expecting me to keep up this crazy schedule, so why was I doing it?

As I reflected on these moments, I could ground myself to where I was in life. Right now, I have the extraordinary ability to not be so busy. In the future, I know I will be and won't have a choice. But right now? I have the opportunity to push back and take time for myself, so why wasn't I doing that? I made the executive decision to start, and starting next semester, I will be taking a significant step back and focusing my attention on a few extracurriculars on top of classes instead of trying to do them all. 

There will always be work and things to do. It's what you sign yourself up for when you enter into adulthood. It's a neverending cycle of things that come up that you have to deal with. What's most important, though, and something you can learn from my past failures, is maintaining a balance but not juggling everything all at once. Sometimes, it's not worth it to have it all, especially if it comes at the expense of yourself. I recognize now that I could have done without one of my extracurriculars, or if I did want to keep them all, I could have decided to underload classes this semester. Alas, I lived and learned, and now I am sharing with you to try and impart some wisdom -- it's so not worth it to do it all.

So, my advice? Don't try to do it all. It's not worth it. I think it's much more beneficial to be super passionate about one or two things and dedicate more of your time and energy to those passion projects instead of spreading yourself so thin across five different things. Even if your well-being is accounted for in the mix, if there's no need to be that busy, don't be that busy. There are plenty of opportunities in life to be that busy, and now, when you don't have to be - no one is depending on you to be, you do not have to be busy all the time. Push back, take some time to yourself, decide what makes you truly happy, and then chase that. 

XO,

MH