We take on too much...

I hate memes with errors, but I liked this one enough to use anyway.

November 3, 2014
Day 187

"I take on too much."  "I make my life more difficult than it needs to be."  "I don't pretend to have the busiest life of all, or even the most stressful life of all my closest friends and family, but I do very often find myself surrounded by more stress than needed."

If any of this sounds familiar, you might be an idiot, like me. 

God knows life is stressful enough without making things any more difficult for ourselves, and yet so many of us take on much more than we should.  Whether it's babysitting for your grandkids, running to the supermarket for a friend, or just agreeing to host something at your house, we all do this all the time.  We see what's doable and comfortable, and then we purposely stretch the parameters of our comfort level.

Why?!   Why the hell do we do this to ourselves?!

I think there's a part of us that says, "Challenges are just life's way of proving how great I am."  We take on a new challenge like a fireman takes on a new fire alarm.  We jump to the aid of others, even though we've got our own fires to put out back home.  And very often, these challenges are completely avoidable, too.  We offer our help or services, even when the person asking could easily get someone else to do it. 

For me, I'm often asked to help out with writing or proofreading work for free.  I enjoy helping people, but there are times when I simply cannot do it.  I've already got too much going on, and even if I could squeeze out an hour or more to help someone, I don't feel like it.  I want to finish my 8-hour workday and just relax, not work on a second or third project for someone else.

Do I want to help people?  Of course!  But sometimes, I just can't handle it, and I truly hope people will understand that.  I put an awful lot of guilt on my own shoulders, so I don't need anyone else offering me any more. 

In my personal writing work, I'm doing these blog entries every morning, and then throughout November, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo (off to a great start, by the way).  That's 2,000 words a day though right there (1600-something words a day for NaNoWriMo + 400-something on average in these blog entries).  You try it!  I enjoy these kinds of challenges, but that doesn't make them easy.

And again, especially to all those mothers and strugglers of all kinds out there, I do not mean to compete with you for who's stressed out more.  I simply vent and write this here to sympathize with your plight, and hope you'll do the same for me.  I take on too much, and many of you take on too much too.  So let's all just try not to do that so much in the future!  Let's try to just understand that our friends and family members often have a lot on their plates too, and won't be able to do everything we need them to do. 

Agreed?  Good!

If you think someone needs this reminder, give them a gentle hint
by sharing this on your social media!