It’s not enough.
As a student who went through the college admission process, I know what it’s like to feel as if you haven’t done enough. Every trip to my guidance counselor’s office made me feel as if I could have added one more club, sport, or some other after-school activity, although I had reached my maximum mental capacity. Even if I had played sports, ran a club, sang in choir, and held down a job, I still would have felt as if I wasn’t doing enough. My inadequacy was reinforced when I talked to my fellow applicants and discovered they had all listed five more time-consuming activities than I had. My guilt soared; I was clearly ungrateful for the opportunities presented to me. I was doing so much. Yet, I was neglecting pursuits that would push me ahead of my class. How could I possibly get into college when it seemed as if someone else was always doing more? College admission counselors, however, believed that I most definitely was a well-rounded student. I still think it was an error in the system.
In college, my overachieving mentality was completely shattered. As I watched other people feel successful in their singular fields, I realized that my habits from high school were more detrimental than helpful. There's no way I was truly skilled in so many disciplines when all my time was equally spread between them. I was moderately average in mostly everything that I did; perhaps even using the word “achieving” was kind of a stretch.
My extracurricular life needed a reboot. I decided to quit the excess activities that I had done in high school to focus my attention on the things that I was truly passionate about. Instead of spending my day running from a club meeting to a sport to choir practice with barely any energy, I would arrive at my one activity, fully energized and ready to throw myself into my work. I’ve found then that the outcome of my work is a much more positive one, most likely because I actually want to be there.
Yet, when I go back home, I am once again bombarded by the excess achievements of fellow students from my graduating class; I hear information about accomplished 18-year-olds from my mother, their mothers, my friends, and, of course, Facebook. But the difference is...I’m happy for them. I no longer compare my achievements to their achievements because I am happy with all of the work I have done since I’ve been in college.
Let me be the first to tell you that what you are doing is enough. If you love what you do and put 100 percent of your effort into it, you are doing just fine, even if you are only doing one thing. Your wellbeing is not worth being able to say you’ve accomplished so many things. On the other hand, if you strive to be an overachiever and do three tasks at once, you are doing just fine. I’m finally learning to enjoy the options that are available to me. I only have four years in college, and I’m definitely going to spend them enjoying what I do, instead of tearing myself apart with the guilt of what could’ve been.
