Sometimes you need to say no. I get that you are all about committing to everything and you never want to let anyone down or miss out on an opportunity, but you can't always do it all- and yet, you are trying. But there is something to be learned about the power of yes and the power of no. I, for one, can say that I am guilty of over commitment. I mean, hey, I am working four different jobs and taking extra credit hours with two majors.
You also might have trouble taking on too much if...
1. You are involved in three or more societies or clubs.
Extracurriculars are important and you can't imagine saying yes to one and not another.
2. You work more than one job
It's all about that experience while you are college in preparation for when you're out in the real world, right?
3.You have a jam packed weekly schedule
And it's all written down, including times because you can't remember everything you have to do from the time you wake up to the time you are in the bed.
4. Your life would be in shambles without said planner
Whether it is a hard copy or on your phone, you can't keep up with your own schedule without it. You can't afford to miss out on a meeting or even worse, a class.
5.You can't commit to something the day of, you need advance notice
You don't understand how someone can just hang out spur of the moment every single day.
6. You plan out your entire semester, events and all.
You need to know when you will be in town, when you have that big event at school, when that holiday party is, and your travel plans for the entire semester.
7. You have a never ending list of reminders.
You feel like you have short term memory loss because if you don't write down that on Wednesday at 1:15 you need to pay rent, Thursday at 10:00 you need to stop by the grocery store, and Friday at 11:55 you have an assignment due, then it just isn't going to get done.
8. You don't understand how someone just goes to class.
You live off of schedules and committing to different activities and taking extra classes and you know how bored you would be if you weren't involved in basically everything.
9. You regularly lose sleep or sacrifice different things just to get in the necessities.
Sometimes you have to stay up even later to get that assignment done because you were busy all day hopping from class to work to meeting to event to phone call.
So you know you have an issue with over-committing yourself and taking on a little too much. You tell yourself that it is because you are a driven individual who lives off of schedules and involvement, which is true, but you often forget the value of rest.
There is something to be said about taking time for you, not the you who needs to study or prepare for that speech or brainstorm ideas for that event, but the you who wants to watch Netflix at in bed, or the you that wants to go to bed an hour early, or the you who wants to read a book just for fun, not because you have to.
Don't lose sight of the little joys of every day by getting lost in your schedule or your longtime goals. Enjoy where you're at and make time for just you, not you and your commitments. Sometimes you need to say no before you rope yourself into something you can't fully commit to because you are spread too thin.
