Heyylloo Blogger world, I know I vanished for a while. That's because I wasn't really feeling this blog. Life style type posts are just not my thing. They are so cliché and overused to me. I decided to the rebrand what this blog is and actually talk about thought provoking topics here. I've had a flurry of ideas encircling my mind about things to write, but I barely get time to enact upon them. Well, here is my topic of the day. Over Achievers vs. Average people.
This idea struck me when I was in a conversation with a peer who has the same major as me. Alot of my peers in my classes have dreams of going to medical school and becoming some huge form of a doctor. I haven't met anyone thus far in my freshman year of college, who hasn't wanted to go to medical school. I immediately felt ostracized when everyone in my classes discussed their future plans....why? Because, I don't want to go to medical school. It always made me the outlier in a conversation. Thus this idea took birth in my mind. We don't think about it often, but over achievers and average people are very different concepts.
Now anyone who aims high is not an over achiever. An over achiever is a person who is actually insecure and the most afraid among the latter. They are the perfectionists that plan out every step and are persistent to have everything their way. Average people, are also folks who dream high, but aren't bent on writing their journey. Instead, they live the journey and let the journey take them. Its only been 3 weeks into my journey or college, and I have witnessed, many students with many different mentalities.
The over achiever is one I have seen consistently. Now, I am a good student, I have my own dreams, and I get good grades, I am responsible, I don't procrastinate, and so on. But I have never tried to map out every move to my future in life. The over achiever mentality is a sick state of mind. A state mind that is vulnerable in the face of change. A state of mind that has tunnel vision and doesn't see that there are so many other paths to the same happiness. Its a state of mind that fosters off of constant successes as it validates itself by the ego rush of feeling superior to another. Now we all set goals and are persistent, but being open to change and going with the flow is vital to live life.
As long as you put your best effort in, don't stress that your first exam was a fail, or you have lost the compass on your career path, or that you have no idea where you are going. Life is full of serendipity, the moments and doors meant for you will find you as long as you seek them. But don't hunt so aggressively that you stay fixated to one path and one way. Everyday when I sit down in class, I can feel the tension rise. Every student is in this race to have the best GPA, or the best connections, or the best achievements. We tend to believe that the competition to get anything.... a job or degree....is all based on how well you can race your peers. But in reality, the competition is against yourself. No one else. The competition is to beat your best, not someone else's best. Because at the end of the day, we are all going to end up in my different places.
This was my few words on the matter of overachieving. Your opinions may differ, but this is where mine stand at the moment. An average person is capable of more than you can fathom. An over achiever is far too deep in a tunnel to see other exits. And this is not my version of self reassurance. It is something I really thought through.
-ISBAH xoxo
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