I'm often called an over-achiever. Family have said it, friends have said it. And yes, I try to do a lot. I'm taking 18.5 college credits this semester, serving on Student Government, and trying to work at least 10-15 hours a week, which to some people, is more than could be handled. But am I actually an over-achiever, or am I simply an over-achiever when compared to the majority of an under-achieving society?
I'm not trying to say that a majority of society is lazy, but simply that they can do more than they believe possible. I think the problem is that people try. Try something new, try something that might not work. Why don't people want to try? Maybe sometimes it's because people are lazy. But the issue goes deeper than that.
People don't try because they don't see their own potential. They don't try to think about the most of which they are capable. People don't look at themselves in the mirror in the morning and say, "How am I going to affect the world today?" I fear that people see themselves as nothing more than a person, simply trying to make it through the day so that they can come home and watch Netflix.
Don't get me wrong; I enjoy Netflix as much as the next college kid. But there is so much more to life than Netflix. There's a whole world out there. A whole world of which we are blessed to be a part! People ask me how I am able to do so much, and part of it has to do with the fact that I know of what I am capable, and I don't want to waste any of my capabilities.
However, it is easy to become discouraged when you are the only person trying to do all that you can. It's not because I don't enjoy what I do. I love everything that I'm doing. I know that it is all for a cause, and that I am glorifying my God by doing it. But it is discouraging to me, because I am able to see of what others are capable. People are capable of so much, and yet they fritter their lives away on things that do not matter.
The hard part is making people see their own potential. But I'm going to find a way to do it.
Sheetal Tadiparty
Flickr Creative Commons
