I never said being self-ish would be easy…
Sunday, October 9th 2022
Today I have really struggled with the idea of being self-ish. I have been volunteering all week and feeling guilty that I didn’t, the past two days. I know I’ve been pretty worn out and need to take some time for myself to reboot, but that’s hard to do when in the back of my head I know there’s so many people in need.
There’s also FOMO…it’s Sunday football and all my friends are watching the games. I don’t want to feel like I’m missing out on any part of the “college” experience.
Keeping all this in mind, I want to talk about the importance surrounding the delegation of your energy. There are only 24 hours in a day, 8 of which you are hopefully getting some shut eye. This leaves you with about 16 hours a day to get whatever you need done. I am not sure if anyone has told you, but you aren’t going to accomplish your dream life or save the world in just those 16 hours. It’s just the truth. I’m not trying to burst your bubble, but that being said, you need to choose what you use your energy on each day with your future goals in mind.
I want to re-analyze some of the things I said earlier, not only to reiterate key points to myself, but to you as well. It is truly okay to pause from saving the world and making other people happy, in order to do what you need to do to ensure your own health and happiness. I think my mission in writing this blog is to help others, but deep down it’s really helping me too. Do you ever give someone such good advice on something and then think, “Gosh, I should take my own advice sometimes.” So that’s what I’m going to try and do; trick myself into taking my own advice through helping others. You know, mash two potatoes with one fork, water two plants with one hose, kill two birds with…you get the idea.
1. The whole FOMO thing. I honestly don’t even really like football all that much…so should I really be upset that I’m not staring at a TV screen watching the Chicago Bears lose once again? Absolutely not (no offense, I love my team but they kind of suck. I am well aware of the situation). The only reason I usually enjoy Sunday football is because I get to be with a group of my friends. But then again, why not just hang with them another time?
2. This one is still really getting to me, especially after this hurricane, but I do feel guilty that I’m not able to give all 16 hours each day to helping others. I wasn’t feeling the best yesterday, so I ended up laying pretty low till I had to go serve around 4ish. I promised myself that as difficult as it might be, I’d be some type of self-ish today. I woke up this morning with a text from my dad asking what my plans were for the day. I told him I was going to try to be some type of self-ish, but I still felt guilty for not volunteering the past two days. His response was, “Don’t Shelby. You have done more in the past week than some people have in a lifetime.” Fair point dad. Not trying to compare my efforts to others, but it did give me a little peace of mind. If you have ever been in a similar position of feeling guilt, just remind yourself that everything you have done is appreciated more than you will ever know; it’s always better than not helping at all. You should never feel guilty when it comes to volunteering because no one is ever expecting you to be there, it’s a choice you make. I now plan on incorporating volunteering much more in my life than I have in the past, without letting it take over too much.
Side Note: Like I stated earlier in this post, it is so important to evenly distribute your energy; whether that be on work, studying, volunteering, or spending time with friends. Make sure you spend time doing things you want to do. Don’t always just do things because other people want to. Of course, that does not mean you should only do things YOU want to do all the time, it means compromise. If what you are doing does not bring you happiness in one way or another, it isn’t worth it. Period.
Today’s Self-ish Sunday consisted of breakfast at Skillets where I wrote a bit while I enjoyed my delicious potato egger skillet (highly recommend), a trip to the Cattyshack Café where I worked some more and then got to spend an hour playing with kittens. I’m not sure life gets much better…I did a little prepping for the week with school and work starting back up. And then I spent a little time with some friends and continued the new Jeffery Dahmer show… (so disturbing). Overall, as difficult as it was, I am really glad that I took a day to myself, which is what Self-ish Sundays are all about!
