Overexertion

How to manage/avoid overexertion written by someone who overexerts herself. 

I don't blog about things I've never been through. Wether its writing or relaxing I always try to give you guys an honest opinion and snippets of lessons learned. So here's my honest opinion from a lesson being learned. 

I overexert myself, consistently, without fail. In addition to my schoolwork, I participate in two extracurricular activities, work two jobs, and volunteer weekends at a summer camp. I also like to do things like sleep, eat, and have a social life. As well as write blog posts and books for all you lovely people.

Here's the thing, when I go to add something new (maybe the camp needs someone over a week, not just the weekend, or my Grandparents need help at their farm), I am instantaneously overwhelmed by the number of things I now have to get done. But I never feel like I'm busy enough.

The definition of overexert is literally: to exert excessively or in plainer words: to do way too much. And many times I find myself saying, "I don't have time for this." Whether it's a computer malfunctioning or losing a pen, I never have time for anything to go wrong. Which means... You guessed it! I'm doing way too much.

Here's a few suggestions to get yourself out of the rut I am stuck in:

1. Your workload does not determine your value.

I grew up in a household that idolized hard work. Wether it was going beyond what was asked or stepping up to every challenge, I was expected to go further, and I did. I would volunteer for any task, no matter how much I loathed the idea. And somewhere in the mix of things I got the idea that if you weren't working you had no value. I never really realized this until last year while I was working at a summer camp. There was an accident, I fell fifteen feet out of a lifeguard stand and onto a paddle board floating in the water below (The stand was on a floating dock. Don't worry, I didn't land on concrete). Out of that incident I received two twisted vertebrae and was unable to work for the next five days. I was absolutely devastated. I was no longer useful to the camp so why would they keep me around? I was so focused on what I couldn't do that I forgot to thank God that I wasn't hurt worse. In the end he taught me that your work load doesn't determine your value. You could work one day a week but have the most important job in the entire company. Every little drop of effort eventually creates an ocean.

2. You can't do everything.

You've all probably heard it before, but you can't do everything. Not even Wonder woman could do it. And lets face it, we're not even close to as cool as she is. So my suggestion is this; lay out a plan, put the things that you can't live without first, sleep, food, school, and work. Then add the things you enjoy, sports, outings, arts, etc... I'm not saying that your life should be completely boring, but the things that need to be done should be put down first. 

3. Limit your interests. 

As a person with many interests I totally get what it's like to want to know everything about everything. Sailing to football, writing to firefighting, baking to parkour. Everything has its pros and cons. But like I said before, you can't do everything. Pick one or two interests you have that you could see yourself doing for the rest of your life. Then invest in those, expand your knowledge and abilities in those areas and run with it. 

4. It's ok to not do what your friends are doing.

A lot of times our friends want to do something that we're not so sure about. Maybe a youth group or sport that have never really caught you attention, and they inevitably ask, no beg, you to do it with them. It's ok to say no. If they're truly your friend for the right reasons it won't matter that you're not doing every single activity with them. Sometimes you're better off for it in the end. 

5. Make time for what matters.

Yes, sleep, school, and food are important. But life can't be lived to it's potential unless you actually enjoy it. Take some time to go to the movies with your friends, or play a board game with family. If you don't enjoy what you do then what's the point of doing it at all?

After all of this, the tips, hints, and testimony, I hope you'll come to realize what I am, that it's not worth making yourself miserable trying to do everything, when you could live life to the fullest by focusing on what you love. In the end, overexertion isn't worth the time it takes away from what truly matters