‘Busy’ Does Not Equal ‘Success’ - Diaries of a Lifelong Workaholic
It’s challenging to describe the lure of pushing yourself to your maximum limits.
Over the last decade, traditional benchmarks of adulthood have appeared a fanciful reality for millennials like myself.
Despite two massive economic crises, the prevalence of social media has made comparison inescapable, and this generation particularly tenacious.
For my entire post-adolescent life I have found myself working to physical exhaustion.
I managed to work 3 jobs as I pushed through community college as an honors scholarship student. I worked the restaurant closing shift 6 nights a week just to be able to excel at a nearly-unpaid internship.
There were countless nights I feared I wouldn’t make it home without falling asleep at the wheel, only to wake up the next morning to do it all over again.
I was 24 years old the first time I could say, “I am only working one job”.
Coming from a working class family, there was no money put away when I went off on my own, and little guidance on how to grow in a professional setting. In my mind, exhaustion meant I was getting somewhere.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but to me, “busy” equaled “success”.
This omnipresent, subconscious mentality followed me closer than my own shadow.
We are taught to treat others the way we want to be treated, with no mention of treating yourself the way you should be treated – and if there is one thing nobody will tell you as a young, ambitious hard-worker, it’s that it’s okay to slow down.
The fact of the matter is the only person who really knows when enough is enough, is yourself. The only person who can or will watch out for your wellbeing–your mental health, your physical condition, your need for sleep–is yourself.
Once you have grown comfortable with being a servant to those around you, being a servant to yourself feels far greater a task.
This is the year (as I turn 26 years old) that I have come to understand the rest, the solitude needed to get inspired, and the time spent creating for nobody but yourself, are nothing short of invaluable.
The moments of calm are equally as, if not more important than, the moments of perseverance. Burning yourself out doesn’t help you, or the people around you.
It is more than okay to set your limits, to take time to nurture the needs of your wellbeing and – dare I say – do. absolutely. nothing.
The pressures of achievement are merciless, but they do not have to be a death sentence.
Setting adequate boundaries, fueling your passions, and designating time to recharge can alleviate mental and physical strain, increase productivity, and make achieving your goals that much more attainable.
I am far from my destination, and still working every day to achieve balance between reward and resilience, but one thing I know for certain is that changing your mindset is more than half the battle.
BUSY ≠ SUCCESS
