Backing down is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength. You have to know when to say enough. You have the right to say, “I’ve tried, and I’m going to take this off of my plate.”
Backing down does not make you a failure or a quitter. I am still learning not to take on too many "good" things in life; too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. There are limits in every season of life; if you’re not careful, you will reach your limit and combust.
I have managed to put myself in that position many times and it sucks.
Every now and then, I will load on projects, clubs, and extra responsibilities on top of classes, work, homework, and other responsibilities I already have. I keep piling and piling on the assignments and things until I just can’t anymore. A few times I have gotten very sick because I have over-worked myself. I have forgotten important homework assignments because I had too many extracurricular activities to do.
After the first few times it happened, I told myself, if it doesn’t concern school or mandatory functions for things that are a priority, then it isn’t a necessity.
Even this semester, only taking three classes, I managed to let myself pile on extras, and I’m about to hit my limit. I have decided to back down and focus on the important things in my life. Those important things are school, my upcoming internship, my family, my friends, and just making the most out of life without the extras. I like to be busy, or really I like to say that I am busy, therefore I take on more and more until I am so busy I don’t have the capacity to function.
That’s not wise or fun. It’s tiring.
When you reach your limit, and you will know when you do, step back and see what can be removed from your life. What are your unnecessary limit-pushers? It’s alright to be pushing yourself to your limits, but there is a smart way to do that, and when it comes to your school and grades, nothing is more important than making things count with good grades.
Sometimes you’re going to have to give up some good things and just take what you can handle in the present. Take heart; it’s not the end of the world. There will be more opportunities in the future where you will have to decide what limit-pusher is limiting your success. Use discernment in your decision-making and cut it off.
Backing down does not make you a quitter. You are not a quitter. You do, however, need to prioritize. You’ll be alright, just a little trial and error to help us all learn how to be adults. From the inside, it sucks to admit that you’ve hit a wall or that you need to unload your wagon because you’ve put too much on it, but it will be okay.
You will be okay, honey.
