You have a long, daunting list of things to do. You have an eight page literature paper, an art project, and a history test all due in the same week. You manage your two jobs, which doesn’t leave much time to sleep, eat, relax, and get all your homework done, but you have your one dream in sight.
In the midst of all the craziness that is going on around you, something just doesn’t feel right. It feels like there’s more, there’s something else you could be doing. There are more people to be helped, more money to be made, more joy to search for somewhere else.
Your classes are fine. Your jobs are great. You know that you are blessed to have not only one job, but two, and you are lucky to be able to receive an education beyond high school. You have a huge, supportive family, and friends that will be there for life. For some people, this provides enough ammunition to keeping chugging along for the rest of their lives. They aren’t always searching for something that feels missing, something that drives them to push themselves vigorously through all the assignments, bills, and bumps in the road.
What you don’t know is that sometimes, it isn’t necessary to push yourself so hard. It isn’t necessary to try to beat the clock before it’s even started, or race to the top of the highest mountain. You don’t need to sacrifice your down time for schoolwork, and you don’t need to be better than anyone other than your former self.
You just need to take a break. You need to take a minute to breathe and realize what is truly important to you. Maybe that is going to Europe with your best friend after college, or working two jobs to make your dreams come true. Maybe it’s staying up all night just to binge watch Netflix, or staying up all night to study for said history test.
Whatever it is that is important to you, realize it, take a step back, and decide what really needs to be done to make that happen. If you don’t need to stay up all night to study for the history test and would rather watch your favorite movies, do it. If you’d rather write the eight page paper than go to work, then that’s what’s important to you.
Even though you don’t give yourself enough credit for all the work you do, and you always think you should be doing more, there is nothing wrong with taking a step back and figuring out what’s truly important to you, and taking the down time to let that happen. You need to realize that there is time do everything that you want to do and it doesn’t have to happen all right now. Stop pushing yourself so hard, and start taking the extra time for yourself.
