Feeling jealous. There was this girl at volunteer work who is an overachiever. During her first week with us, she contributed a lot of work to our organization. My boss keeps praising her saying she's so motivated, and she's only 16! Meanwhile my boss has been expressing disappointment with other volunteers' work, and I think he wants me to do more, be more like this girl.
This girl reminds me of when I was in high school. I was loading my schedule with as many advanced classes as possible, doing my best at everything (Calculus, physics, biology, etc) in order to get straight As every year. I must have joined at least 5 clubs, including art, chemistry, french, and national honor society. I did as much as I could academically and spread myself very thin.
In contrast, my classmate dropped out of an advanced English class and only enrolled in 2 or 3 extracurricular activities. His GPA was lower than mine, as was his class ranking. He was only interested in computers. After high school, he went to college and graduated with an IT job, which pays probably at least 50K a year.
On the other hand, after I graduated high school, I had no idea what I want for a career. No clue. I tried out different classes, switched majors a lot. I wasted 4 years in college with student loans before finding out my passion.
I don't know if this girl Jessica will turn out just like me, trying to be the best at everything, trying to please people, etc. It's a dangerous road to travel down. I've heard about parents forcing their kids to take piano lessons, swimming lessons, language lessons, art lessons, etc. In fact I know several kids who had to do this, and they're high achievers. But I just don't think being the best at everything is really the right approach.
In my volunteer work, I didn't like my position at all. Everytime I had to do work duties, I cringe. And I'm not even good at what I'm doing. I want to quit sometime this year. I want to devote my time to doing things that relate to my passion, not wasting time (again!) doing things that emphasize my weaknesses and cause me stress. So, I give up being the jack of all trades.
I feel the pressure to compete with her, to work harder and better, but I know in the end it won't be worth it. I don't want to waste my time doing something that won't improve my skills or well being. If I compete with her, I won't have time to pursue my passion. Plus, there's the slippery slope of kissing feet.
h: Aye, believe me that's the only downside tae being Scottish ah can find - naturally funny, even when we're no tryin' tae be. Ah know, it's a f**kin' pain in the arse.
