Daily Om: Overachieving and Overreaching

Today's Daily Om looks at overachieving and overreaching. What this entry is essentially looking at is a part many of us have, The Pusher. The important thing to realize is that this is just a part that feels it needs to overachieve and overreach to protect us in some way -- it's not who we really are as a Self.

Managers like The Pusher are usually protecting an exiled or disowned part of ourselves. It thinks that its necessary to constantly achieve, often because the disowned part was somehow shamed or wounded and feels like a failure -- and managers never want to let feelings like those into awareness.

A Sign Of Imbalance
Overachieving and Overreaching

Overachievers are people who have achieved but still feel the need to do more, creating an imbalance in their lives. People who exhibit this behavior may be trying to compensate for feelings of insecurity and doubts about their worth. They may be chasing unresolved issues from their past into the present, or they might not be looking at their lives as a whole, but judging themselves based only on one aspect of their being. If this is a word that we’ve heard used with respect to our choices and lifestyle, it is worth examining in order to balance our lives for a more rewarding experience.

If we find that we cannot allow ourselves to experience and enjoy the present moment, putting pleasure off into some distant future, it may be a sign that we are being driven to achieve more than is truly necessary. Pushing ourselves beyond the point of exhaustion, or to the exclusion of important people in our lives, robs us of true and meaningful joy. Once we make the connection to the eternal part of us, it can nourish us and allow our priorities to shift from chasing after an elusive feeling to being fully present in the moment so that we can live our lives in the now.

Sometimes we need to look to those we love and admire in order to realize what we value about life. We can take time to note what we like about others, and then turn the mirror to reflect the light of those same words and feelings toward ourselves. It can be quite a revelation to see ourselves in this nourishing light. When we can put the energy that we’ve been devoting to a phantom sense of achievement into the truly satisfying aspects of our lives, we can restore the balance between our inner and outer worlds and experience true joyful peace.

Tags: Psychology, personal growth, self exploration, shadow work, Daily Om, Overachieving, Overreaching, parts, managers, exiles, disowned selves