Were my extreme efforts and hard work really necessary last semester? Over the break I have been reflecting on the past semester and I didn't seem to get my head around this question. At the beginning of vacations I thought there were only two answers: yes and no. Of course there never is just black or white. I had divided my thoughts into these two answers and was overthinking the answers because I never really fully agreed to either of them.
Part of me thought was yes all of my hard work and extreme efforts were necessary last semester. The decision to put all of my effort in my work was always made thinking about the good of the magazine and doing my best to reach our goal of creating a professional magazine. Opening the file of last semester's Presentation Of Learning, I have to say that without all of the effort put in by me, the magazine's final quality would have been deteriorated. As the layout designer it was my duty to present the best quality we could achieve within our time limit.
In my contradictory opinion of thinking that all of the hard work and extreme efforts were not completely necessary I directed the attention more towards myself. I thought of the extreme prioritisation I gave to the project. Breakthrough had become my life, it was my one and only job and I had to do it well. Not only would I give up time from studying or doing homework for my MYP classes, but I gave up complete weekends, staying inside my house, just to revise and improve the already created designs. It had become unhealthy. I would have never thought my parents would tell me to take a break from school break, but while making the magazine they did, and surprisingly they said it often.
At the start of February my family and I went on vacation. I distracted myself and cleared my head of this mental debate. After returning I told my situation and my contradicting arguments to my cousin and then she simply replied with "why not both?" I decided to shut up about the topic and I changed subjects but I kept thinking about what she had said. Of course all of the effort was necessary to achieve a high-quality product, but school work should never interfere with your own well-being.
I concluded that I need to find a grey area where I can work hard but simultaneously have time for other classes, but most important, have time for myself.
Part of me thought was yes all of my hard work and extreme efforts were necessary last semester. The decision to put all of my effort in my work was always made thinking about the good of the magazine and doing my best to reach our goal of creating a professional magazine. Opening the file of last semester's Presentation Of Learning, I have to say that without all of the effort put in by me, the magazine's final quality would have been deteriorated. As the layout designer it was my duty to present the best quality we could achieve within our time limit.
In my contradictory opinion of thinking that all of the hard work and extreme efforts were not completely necessary I directed the attention more towards myself. I thought of the extreme prioritisation I gave to the project. Breakthrough had become my life, it was my one and only job and I had to do it well. Not only would I give up time from studying or doing homework for my MYP classes, but I gave up complete weekends, staying inside my house, just to revise and improve the already created designs. It had become unhealthy. I would have never thought my parents would tell me to take a break from school break, but while making the magazine they did, and surprisingly they said it often.
At the start of February my family and I went on vacation. I distracted myself and cleared my head of this mental debate. After returning I told my situation and my contradicting arguments to my cousin and then she simply replied with "why not both?" I decided to shut up about the topic and I changed subjects but I kept thinking about what she had said. Of course all of the effort was necessary to achieve a high-quality product, but school work should never interfere with your own well-being.
I concluded that I need to find a grey area where I can work hard but simultaneously have time for other classes, but most important, have time for myself.