Overbooked, overjoyed

I don’t listen to instructions well. I’m a bad listener, I’m a poor text-responder and I never take criticism to heart.

For that matter, I’m also terrible at taking compliments, asking people for help and knowing when I need a break. Generally, I’m poor at reading signals or body language in any circumstances.

Where many of these traits are things that I should probably work on and possibly change about myself, there’s one trait I’ll always keep with me. I never let people tell me what to do.

Saying things like this has the tendency to make me sound like a third-grader, and I’m okay with that. Everyone should make decisions for themselves — good or bad. You learn from what you mess up and gain from your successes, but most importantly, hesitation is worthless.

All my life, people, parents and friends have told me that I’m too busy, that I have too many interests and that my goals largely overshoot the product. But everyone should overbook themselves. Never will there be a time when you look back and say, “Gosh, I wish I hadn’t done that internship,” or “Gee, I wish they hadn’t hired me.”

Your experiences are not merely resume-builders, but conversation points, parts of your learning experience — these are the things that set you apart in a sea of applicants for whatever it is you’re applying to.

Next semester, I will try to tackle too much. You should join me. I’ll have a food service job and my position as literary director for a student theater company. I’m also taking 17 credit hours, directing a play in the spring, setting up to go abroad, proposing my senior honors thesis, keeping a writing blog and starting a food blog.

Additionally, I’m attempting another minor, applying for internships, knitting a sweater, copying ’zines and growing a spruce tree named Charlie. During the summer, I want to live in a state I’ve never lived in before.

Oh, and my best bud and I will be Opinion desk editors. I know that future-me will be really mad with present-me for creating this horrible, wonderful schedule for myself. Overachievers, we must persevere. Your strongest priority will rise to the surface, and everything else will assemble you as a person.

Caffeine, a day-planner and good friends are all you need for this venture. We must bite off as much as we can chew, and then some. Cheers.

­— ftirado@indiana.edu