Rediscovering Your Interests

Some overachievers live well into adulthood without stopping to consider their own wants and needs. They are so busy living up to other people’s expectations they have no time to “waste” on themselves. Changing this attitude isn’t selfishness. We all have ways to help other people that we can enjoy at the same time.

Expose yourself to the possibilities. Watch TV, read papers and magazines, ask the local tourist board what events take place in your area. Follow the sparks of interest that come along the way. You may find a hobby you’ll practice for a few months, or for the rest of your life.

Overachievers need to ask themselves what makes another person’s interests more important than their own. Just because is not an answer. As an adult, your hobbies, employment and religion need to be focused on what’s in your heart … not someone else’s.

Facing the Resistance

For the last four years, Holly volunteered with her mom at the local domestic assault center. After her parents moved to Florida, she decided to give her attention to the art museum instead. It wasn’t long before her mom called from her new home after talking with the shelter director.

“The shelter needs you.”

How can Holly tell her mom that the museum needs people too? Or that she connects better with the younger volunteers where she’s at than the older women who work at the shelter?

She has several ways of doing this. The first would be to ignore her mom’s opinion and focus only on how much she’s enjoying her choice. She can also turn the conversation around and ask her mom where she’s volunteering now in Florida.

Even if mom gets in her digs, Holly will feel guilty for five minutes in comparison to feeling good at the museum for an hour each week. She’s also feeling more self-confident, because she chose to make a move, to improve her life, and she succeeded.

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