Enough is Enough. Or is it?
We all strive to achieve many things. But an even greater accomplishment is to know when enough is enough. I’ve always thought I did a lot. I was wrong. Listening to someone else, I realized that I do only a small amount of what she does. She is in it all, and somehow manages to cope and still do well in school. But she also said that it was both stressful and tiring.
I want to both step into her shoes but also hide away from all that responsibility.
Ever since I was a child, I strove to be the best in everything. I tried. I tried. But I just ended up being mediocre at a lot of things. My dad always said: “you can’t be good at everything, unless you’re god.” I realized since then that we can only wish to be god.
During 8th grade I did Robotics, Band, Future City, and Swimming, each of which had it’s own competition and set practice times.
I realized that it was impossible to juggle this many things without messing up and dropping a few. I knew that I couldn’t give 100% in everything if I did them all. So I chose swimming. All the rest, I dropped.
The thing is, I don’t know if that was my best choice. Sure, swimming leaves me fit, energized (and keeps my schedule consistent) and relaxed (it’s a great stress reliever). However, the strict schedule makes other activities hard to schedule. I can’t go on long summer vacations. I can’t attend my favorite clubs or competitions — since they ALWAYS conflict with my Saturday morning practice. I can’t even pull an all nighter — got to love morning practices.
Her perseverance, her commitment amazes me. I could’ve never done that. I would’ve just thrown my hands up in frustration and given up on something. But another thought: She is happier being busy than not doing anything at all. I could only wish to have her passion that guides her through the endless work and keeps her humming her merry tune. There are truly angels among us.
In addition to swimming, you are writing, publishing, creating, sharing…all very impressive! Most importantly, you’re making decisions for yourself, by yourself–controlling the things you can and letting go of what you can’t. That’s a lesson that some never learn!
It took a bout of serious illness and surgery to make me rethink how busy I was. Pulling back from much of my volunteer work was the right answer for me, and for my family. I don’t do nearly as much as I used to, but my health is better for it!
This is a very nice Valentine’s day tribute to someone you seem to admire deeply. Thank you. BTW, YOLO, so let her know how much you admire her. Also, Chopin!? Dude Chopin is anything but mediocre! You will find that this is becoming the era of the dabblist. Although the life of a dablist may not look normal, it is fun, interesting and leads to a fulfillment that narrow-focus specialization may leave you reaching for down the line. Just my $0.02. You seem to be ahead of the game.
BTW, I learned about you in a video from TCEA 16. Keep up the great work!