By “Piglet”
Many of us have friends we can call overachievers. They perform better or achieve more success than what is expected. Sometimes, they don’t identify themselves as overachievers because it’s become a natural habit for them to want to do better. We as their friends can try to bring them back down to Earth when they overwork themselves.
The implicit presumption is that the ‘overachiever’ is achieving superior results through excessive effort.” This is totally true. Our friends probably have great grades and still stress over extra credit! They also join every extracurricular they can. This stretches their time, body, and mind to the maximum. Eventually, they become over-stressed and start to have breakdowns or start to seem like emotional roller coasters.
Like emotional roller coasters, these people are all over the place. You realize something unfortunate may be beginning to happen to them, but, they won’t change anything. This is because most of them are already trying to avoid something by doing a bunch of other things, or they’re trying to prove something.
For example, I am one of these overachieving people. Since the time I was able to join extracurricular activities I have done so. No matter how much the work piled up on me, I didn’t care as long as I wasn’t home. I started doing this because I had lots of responsibility at home, lots of homework and eating problems. I didn’t want to deal with these things, and so I loved finding ways not to be around them. Now I’m not trying to tell you that being an overachiever is a bad thing, or that it’s a cover up, but there’s always more than one reason for wanting to do something.
Nevertheless, I’m not saying it is impossible to improve your situation if you are caught in an “overachiever way of life.” You can change, but it will take time and determination. I myself have started to make adjustments in how many commitments I take on. Below are three helpful steps:
1. Slow down. Don’t let stressful deadlines accumulate.
2. Allow yourself time to have fun and don’t be afraid to make LOTS of friends.
3. Organize your life so that you don’t do, or stress-out, over things that aren’t important. But don’t organize too much!
Just following these three simple steps will set you on the path to calming the “overachiever” inside.