• January 27, 2014
• 2

My 18 Pairs of Shoes

This week, I learned a little something about what it really feels like to be an adult, rather than just a “college kid.” While my time was primarily consumed with classes and homework assignments, I also continued the process of learning how to juggle school responsibilities with life responsibilities – and, how to distinguish between the two.

The older you get, the farther along you’ve made it through your education, the more your education becomes a life responsibility as well. But there are still other important responsibilities, like nurturing your relationship with God, keeping in touch with family back home, scheduling doctor’s and dentist appointments, filling out resumes and job applications, and contemplating new, massive life decisions.

Suddenly, I am realizing how my career as a “college kid” is gradually shifting into that of an adult. Monday through Friday, I am a student with a full load of 18 units, and the foundation to keep up with. On Saturdays, I am a music teacher, breakfast through dinnertime, and often a babysitter in the evening. Then on Sundays, I become a leader for my church’s 4th and 5th grade girls. But 24/7, I am a daughter, big sister of five siblings, girlfriend, board member, student, roommate, teacher, and friend.

When I’m dangling by a thread, my mom says to me with an empathetic smile, “You’ve inherited my sickness. I always fill my plate with too much stuff.” And some days, it definitely feels like I have.

But you know, growing up, and battling this “sickness” of overloading my plate – are those really such bad things? I’ve always said, “I’m better off busy than bored,” and it seems the busier I get, the more I believe it.

Sometimes, I’ve had such a busy week; at the end of it I’m too fried to remember exactly what happened. But never in my memory have I reflected on my week with the guilt of knowing that I wasted this beautiful thing that we humans call “life.”

To me, there are two extremes of this concept – there is the person who commits to only one pair of shoes, knowing that this will make life easy for them, and an enjoyable, riskless ride. Then, there is me, the person with about eighteen different pairs of shoes in my closet of commitments, whose ambition and passion for learning and adventuring tempts me, every day, to add another pair.

As I’m growing up, I’m finding myself often stumbling across the latter extreme. But in truth, my life and my heart are full. God gave us this beautiful gift of life so that we could use our time to both learn and invest in our passions, and to then share those investments with others.

So for now, I think I’ll keep my eighteen pairs of shoes, and should my closet of commitments expand some, I’ll probably add a nineteenth.

After all, this is a “sickness” I’m not interested being cured from.