Friday, November 12, 2010

Overachievment and Self Worth

I am an overachiever. When I don't achieve, I feel I don't exist. The grown up in me, who takes care of everything and makes everything go smoothly, I call the "Executive Me".
The Executive Me works overtime until being burned out and has no choice but let other parts of me manifest themselves -usually at the worst moment possible-.
The Executive Me has been created when my mother stopped caring for me, at the age of 2 or earlier. She was not equipped with a maternal instinct and my constant needs were bothering her. The Executive Me takes care of my survival tools and is very old and tired by now. The child in me usually shows up when I feel trapped or defenseless. I have a terrible conduct towards authority figures, especially if I sense they are less intelligent than myself.
I overachieve to validate myself. The Executive Me has done impressive things through the years: straight A student, learned 4 different languages fluently, lived in different countries on 2 continents, moved to the US and became a citizen, created a safe place for the child in me to manifest itself -a beautiful purple condo-, put myself through college while working and no debt! The Executive Me is impressive. While the Executive Me gets some rest, the rest of me moves so slowly, that I feel I don't exist or I'm dead. If I can't validate my existence through the things I do or create, I feel I don't deserve to be alive. My parents never cared about my achievements. They sabotaged me if they could. They taught me everyday of my life that I don't matter, that nothing of what I do will ever matter. I rebelled. I wanted to matter. I wanted to distance myself from them and show them that they don't matter. I had to learn to believe in myself. The bomb proof belief in myself stands in the Executive Me.
I wish I learned how to feel validated even outside of the Executive Me. It doesn't mean that the Executive Me should disappear. Only she should work less, allow the child in me to grow and catch up with the rest of me. I need to be able to trust my every part, if I want to evolve as a human being. If I trust myself enough to evolve, I would be able to help other do the same thing. I would be able to let others validate me, for a change. The Executive Me could provide the fuel for me to change the world.

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