Throughout our lives, we have learned to measure what “enough” means in various aspects. For instance, when we eat, once we have consumed a general amount of our meal, we notice our bodies telling us we’re full is a signal we have had enough. When we play in the snow, we notice it ‘s time to head back inside when the cold begins to sting our skin signaling we have been outside long enough. In many situations, our bodies react and inform us when it’s enough, and if we continue pushing that limit, it harms us and leaves us feeling drained, uncomfortable, and unsatisfied.
When it comes to academics, it seems that most students always find themselves hungry and are truly never full. No matter how much work is completed, there seems to be little to no time to pause and be proud of what you have accomplished because of the constant need to figure out the next best thing you can do is. You may ace an exam, within the next hour, you find yourself studying for the next. Landing a leadership role in one extracurricular, now it’s time to find the next, sound familiar?
The constant need to perform or compare yourselves to your peers who are doing more is hard to fathom; it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in a day to achieve your goals that keep multiplying on your bucket list. We often hear the term climbing the corporate ladder, but what about the academic ladder that students know all too well?
We may have ruined our perception of what “enough” truly means for ourselves because we measure it through the lens of other people- their expectations, their approval and validation instead of our own. Every milestone and achievement has been used to prove ourselves rather than appreciate ourselves; we’ve cut ourselves short on our own recognition of our accomplishments.
Tying your self-worth and finding your identity through your performance of grades, test scores, and GPAs is dangerous and unhealthy. Any mistake or grade that does not reach your expectations can harm you mentally when you put academics on a pedestal. This is not something students necessarily develop on their own; it’s typically through, “achievement culture” where productivity and success measures their value and worth. This culture is enabled by schools, parents, social media, and society, which has been ongoing for decades. High-achieving students may adopt the belief that they need to be the best, which is not just doing your best, or the “fear of failure,” which can be motivating and almost empowering until this mentally turns into exhaustion and burnout, because of the constant pressure to prove yourself.
Achievement culture may never disappear completely, but as students, we can learn how to adjust without letting it consume us. For starters, realizing that you are enough and your achievements are enough because our worth is not defined by how many awards we earn or how many projects we complete. We don’t need to keep fighting for a pedestal that was never meant to define our worth, remember, your true identity is found with your hobbies, experiences, friendships, and doing the things that bring you joy. We can learn to recognize our achievements and appreciate the efforts and dedication, and not just the outcome. Through these practices, we can begin to reclaim a sense of being “enough” and decenter the feeling of not being enough, and allow ourselves to live more authentically and be proud of ourselves. Find value in who you are and not who others want you to be.