I've taken so many practice exams in the past couple of days that my brain is now in default MCAT mode whenever I do anything. While reading an article in the NY Times tonight, I tried to use my mouse to "highlight" a specific sentence on the screen - until I realized I had just attempted to use a highlighting feature that exists only for passages on computer-based exams like the MCAT.This begets the question, even outside the context of such a test, how much is too much? And what is it that makes us over-extend ourselves to begin with?
When a particularly tragic or difficult event happens in a person's life, one of the positive results (after going through the stages of denial and pain and depression and so forth - the "grief cycle", as Kubler-Ross calls it in her book, On Death and Dying) is gaining the drive to do more and to do better. Although it's ironic that the rationalization of something horrible ultimately leads to the motivation for something beneficial, at least initially negative situations do eventually propel us in a positive direction. And that's probably what matters most in the end.
Making an effort, trying to improve - both are inherent markers of a logical, conscientious person. But, even the most practical individuals can become tunnel-visioned and so overly focused on a single task that everything else exists only in relation to that one cruciality.
The key, experts say, is to reach an optimal level of understanding and comfort, and then, to stop. Achieving this kind of balance is usually much easier said than done; and, coincidentally, it's precisely the fear of failure that causes us to completely over-exert ourselves, resulting in the very defeat we so desperately wanted to circumvent.
Pressure, reputation, expectations. Everyone has reasons for wanting more in life. While it's okay to not want to settle for anything less than the best, each person should be his or her own measure of perfection. Otherwise, we start trying too hard to do too much, for all the wrong reasons.
We have the ability to recover from unforeseeable adversity and bounce back with unimaginable resilience, but we falter the moment we assume our success is inextricably dependent on the often misguided judgments of others. Perhaps it's time to recognize that true limits only exist if and when we create them for ourselves.
