Since I was a little girl, my mother told me that I should be generous, polite, and gracious to others around me. Of course, that lesson has shown itself to be useful over time, as we all like to be treated kindly and with respect. However, like with everything in life, everything should be done in moderation. Unfourtenetly, I have managed to take this valuable life lesson to the extreme. Yesterday, for example, at work, I felt as if my generosity was over the top. See, yesterday morning, I had a meeting I had to attend. It was a work-related meeting that was scheduled by the people I work for during peak hours at work. So, because I wanted to be kind and lend a hand, I decided to come earlier than usual and lessen the pressure during rush hours. As I helped out, I assumed that by the time I’d come back from my meeting, they would get a hold of most of the work. However, I was incredibly mistaken.

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By the time I got back, I saw that there was still a heavy load of work remaining that I had to execute. I was upset and disappointed. I helped out when no one asked me to, exactly so that this wouldn’t happen. Despite helping out early and missing peak hours, I still felt that I was carrying a lot of the weight. And, if that wasn’t enough, I found myself staying to help way after my work hours, despite needing to get out in time. I wanted to tell them that I had to go, but I wanted to be helpful, kind, and do my part, which ended up costing me my time and plans. Because I wanted to be gracious, helpful, and polite, I ended up hurting and damaging myself. Yes, helping others is an amazing and important thing, but we must make sure that we are not hurting ourselves in the process. We must be generous to ourselves too.