I have always been an on-the-go type of person. It originates from my family being insanely busy. Most nights we ate dinner at 8 p.m., after a sporting event, meeting, or sprint through the grocery store. Every day after school I would either be on my way to a sports practice, running club, or meeting up for a group project. Then most nights after that I would be driving 45 minutes away to club volleyball practice, getting home at 10 p.m. to eat dinner and finish up homework. Being busy is in my nature. It’s a part of who I am—who I always have been.
Coming into college my brother warned me not to get over involved. I tried to say no, but I was over stimulated by all the potential cool things I could do! I started off small. Only two clubs, two meetings a week. Nothing too crazy. A few intramurals here and there. Then at the start of the next semester, I joined the club volleyball team. A couple tournaments over the weekends and practice two times a week. On top of homework and the other clubs. Doesn’t sound bad right?
But then I started to grow in responsibilities in the organizations. Taking on bigger roles. Doing more things for the organizations. Playing more intramurals. Starting a job. Before I realized it, it was my junior year, I was on two executive boards, working, in a cooperative, playing on a club team, and trying to have some type of social life. If that doesn’t make you want to curl up into a blanket burrito and watch 7 hours worth of Netflix with a big bowl of popcorn I don’t know what does.
Being overly involved is hard. I lost friends because I didn’t have time to hang out with them. Being over involved meant forgetting to eat lunch. It meant eating dinner at 10 p.m. It meant carrying three bags across campus for my three meetings and work after class gets out. It meant leaving my apartment at 8 a.m. and not getting home until after midnight. It meant starting homework at midnight and finishing it at 2 a.m. It meant going to five meetings a week. It meant forgetting about basic responsibilities and administrative tasks. It meant missing out on a lot of fun things that my friends wanted to do. It meant straying from my faith. It meant straying from God. It meant not taking care of myself. It meant being really unhealthy. It meant getting less than 5 hours of sleep most nights. It meant losing 10 pounds from not eating and constantly being stressed. It meant my emotional and mental health was at an all-time low. It meant crying at the smallest things. It meant having emotional breakdowns. It meant having so much stress and anxiety. It meant struggling in school. It meant a lot of really bad things.
But I thought it was okay. I was making a difference in the community. And in the lives of so many people. I was doing big things. I put a lot of other people before myself. I said yes to everything. I didn’t want to let people down. I craved their approval. I made sure every other person in my life was okay, before I made sure I was okay.
This isn’t how it should be. This is wrong. DO NOT DO THIS. Promise me you won’t do this. Promise me you will take care of yourself. Learn to say no. Learn to do things for yourself. Learn to take personal days. Go hiking. Go work out. Go color. Go be irresponsible. Go have fun. Go do things for yourself. Go live a fun and fulfilling life.
This isn’t me saying don’t get involved. This isn’t me telling you that you will die if you get involved. This is me telling you to find a balance. This is me telling you to find a way to take care of yourself. This is me telling you to find a way to get involved in a healthy way. This is me telling you to enjoy being involved and the relationships you build with it. Enjoy it in a healthy way. Because the most important thing, is truly being healthy. And taking care of yourself.
