We are always encouraged to do the best and extend our possibilities. We are expected to score the highest possible on every exam, to be the friendliest and most approachable person, to not be selfish, to be the top of the class and to involve ourselves in all kinds of activities. When do we draw the line, and recognize that striving for excellence is impossible because it is extremely mentally and physically draining. I constantly celebrate my successes by wanting to accomplish more and be better than the ones that surround me, this is why my sin is being an overachiever.
An overachiever is defined as a person who already does great things but is never satisfied and feels the need to accomplish more. While this may seem like a positive mindset it tends to interfere with healthy relationships such as friends and family and may also affect their personal needs. In other words, the cost of attaining one’s goal outweighs the reward that one achieves. This is problematic because it does not model a healthy and enjoyable life.
Success is relative, but overachievers tend to strive for their hardest goals and do everything in their power to achieve them. Being successful and achieving one’s goals may be even considered as the purpose of one’s life, but when is it too much? That is an answer that an overachiever refuses to acknowledge. Success should be an ideal but not a priority, happiness should tower over success.
An example of when overachieving took a strain on my happiness was this summer when I often rejected spending time with my father, sister and mother that I had not seen in more than a year to make sure I was completing my summer work. I spent my summer days locked up in my room with my eyes fixed on a screen and my fingers typing what felt like one hundred miles an hour. While I feel pride in having accomplished all the work I was given and understanding it, I feel guilty and regret not spending more time with my family before I left for Hebron.
My perfectionism has become a source of stress and anxiety. This need to complete everything rigorously and in a timely manner is not an issue and it is often considered as a goal, but the mental burden that it demands inevitably sets me up for failure. I deflect much needed self-care and emotions to achieve a goal, which sets me on a circular, never-ending path of achievement followed by mental struggles and stress.
For this sin I believe that I have been punished because of all the missed opportunities I spent in my room rushing to strive for goals, often prematurely. I was too concentrated on the future that I let the present slip away and with it many memories. I do feel guilty for being an overachiever because I have let success consume my life and neglected my friends and family as well as my own needs. This experience, that I am still recovering from, really encouraged me to reevaluate my priorities and recognize that the future is too far to worry about.
“When do we draw the line, and recognize that striving for excellence is impossible because it is extremely mentally and physically draining.”
I think that overachieving has really shaped my life despite its negative consequences. It has taken me where I am, a hard worker attending a prep school where I have made lifetime friends. However, if I want to be happy I should establish a balance between achieving my goals, thinking about the future and living in the present. Or, these friends I have made, will too, just slip away.
The process of writing about a sin is difficult because it reveals a bad characteristic of yourself that you often tend to cover up. I like how I used a controversial sin, as not everyone considers overachieving a sin, and personalized how it has shaped my life and how I applied it being a sin to my conditions . I could have thought about a sin that is more personal, but I chose to write what I found was bothering me most at the moment, which is the need to feel accomplished in all my classes this year.