I’ve noticed that sometimes life seems like a cheesy sitcom where at the end of the day you’re just supposed to learn your lesson and move on to the next great dilemma to solve. I have spent the last few years like this—keeping myself insanely busy with class, work, extra-curricular activities, internships, etc. And through all that I’ve learned so much about myself and how to deal with problems that normally would have made me crumble. My friends say that I’m the cause of the stress in my life. Is it possible to like stress? If so, I think I’m addicted.
I am almost finished my time as an undergrad. And while most people would like to attend parties and meet new people, I have spent my time here vying for the most stressful of jobs and situations that I could put myself into. I almost took another job, a dream job, but decided to focus on being Editor-in-Chief. I could have let go of my responsibility for the paper and followed the path that I’ve been working toward, but something made me feel like that’d be too easy. The stress in my life is my fuel to work harder, commit to the responsibility that I took on, and keep pushing forward no matter what obstacles come up.
The experiences that I have had this past year alone have helped me grow and taught me lessons, hard lessons,that I couldn’t learn elsewhere. No one’s going to be there to hold your hand; the only person you can really depend on when it comes down to it is yourself. And it’s not as easy as a cliché; I have had to hire, fire, compromise, penalize, and ultimately put my job above my social life. But what I’m trying to say is, that’s okay.
Maybe not everyone can relate, but surely you’ve had a passion for something or a stressful job at some point. And if you really want to do anything in life that you’re passionate about it’s going to cost you more than the bare minimum of responsibility and effort.
Here’s what I’ve found: you get what you put in. That goes for everything in life—work, relationships, and especially personal goals. And if you find you have too much on your plate, get a bigger plate.
Yours,
Saaliha Malik
