Truth Tuesday: There's such a thing as doing "too much"

I will be the first to admit that I don't nearly enough sleep. Some nights, I only get three hours, and that's something that doesn't bother me as much as it should.

I remember last semester, I was taking 17 credit hours, working five jobs, and getting very little sleep. I was exhausted all of the time, but I was proud. I was making A's, I was getting my work done, but one day I woke up and just wanted to take a breath. Everything I had going on was becoming overwhelming. Yes, I was getting the work done, but was it as high quality as work I would be producing if I could dedicate more time to working on it? Probably not.

There is such a thing as doing too much.

I recently read something online, about how we romanticize exhaustion, and relying on coffee. How people are proud of how thin they stretch themselves, and I didn't even realize I was one of those people.

When people would say, "I don't know how you do it!" I was so proud of myself. I'm not getting any sleep, I'm breaking out, and I can't focus- but hey, I'm doing it all!

That's the wrong attitude.

I was drowning in a mess that I created, and even asked for! I would ask for my jobs; asking how I could contribute, asking if I could work on that project, too. I didn't even stop to think about how much I already had to do, I just wanted to do more.

I recently listened to Renée Trudeau speak (which you'll read about in another blog post) and she said something really interesting. She said that no one is going to ask if you are taking on too much; you have to be in charge of yourself. Essentially, if you don't take care of yourself, who will? This really resonated with me, because I always thought someone would say, "Hey, you need to chill out with all of the work you're taking on," and sometimes they will, but the only person that is going to stop taking on more assignments is yourself.

It's okay to say, "I'm sorry, I can't take that on right now." There is absolutely nothing wrong with admitting that you have too much to do to add another thing to your plate. I think it shows a very strong sense of self to know when enough is enough.

It took me a long time to figure out how much was too much, and when to slow down, but I think it is one of the most important things I've learned thus far.

So take a minute and think about how much you already have going on. Are you constantly thinking about your already lengthy to-do list? Remember that when you think about adding another project to your plate.