To Over Achieve

  I often find myself drowning in a lot of work, more than the usual college workload that most have to go through, as I am involved in various projects from the Department of the Humanities; being a student in associations as part of its directive as well different associations under the English Department like the film association and projects under social sciences, and of course writing my personal experiences, in an attempt to make visible the lives of all of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

Sometimes I feel like I must be like Barbie, good at everything, always able to perform all of my tasks and feeling like it is up to me to do the work in environments I find myself in and repeatedly finding out that it has to be oneself who has to at least attempt to create a safe space and community for all involved.

In essence, the title of overachiever can fit neatly over my persona and as a woman involved heavily in the College Communities, it makes all of this overachieving  so overwhelming, and for certain I am not alone in this, many of my colleagues feel the same way. Some of us, together, are creating new and important student projects and making the art community in El Colegio much more  prominent, that way they may lead the way for new students to have something that students before them didn’t or couldn’t have.  

Though this immense good for the community should never come at the cost of oneself and one should never glamorize that type of sacrifice nor should the need to overachieve lead to anyone to deal with extra work than what they can handle, maybe one should be critical when stories are written of people doing incredible things not because one doesn’t want to believe in talents displayed or written about but because one should be able to empathize with them, to understand the weight it must take to be extraordinary, especially in this month for mental health. Because it can be detrimental to not realize how much work is in these stories, women in STEM having to work twice and even four times as much as their male peers to even be considered in projects that they work on or the people studying in the arts having to be their own businessperson, market analyst and even social media manager on top of the art that they make or even the amount of work it takes to create a community when there is little to none. 

When one finds themselves in a situation where there is a repeated need to overachieve, consider then to take a step back and feel the emotions that are around oneself and dial it back when it is necessary. It shouldn’t be something to be ashamed of or bad, take the rest that is needed and if you are capable of stepping back from truckloads of work, start taking those necessary steps to take that much needed breather. 
In essence what I want to say is;

“I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us.”

-Gloria’s monologue in Barbie (2023)

It is okay to rest, it is okay to take some time for yourself  and it is certainly okay to say no new projects you can’t handle, or you have too much on your plate. Take the time for yourself and take care of yourself. You’ve certainly earned your rest. 

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