This post is about over-commitment. Over-commitment is an invisible leach that seems to attach itself to me.  I’ve tried to break the strong bond that holds my leach and me together, but he is dug in deep.

It seems me and the over-commitment leach have been together for a long time – decades actually. My leach constantly fools me into thinking I have more than 24 hours a day, more than 7 days a week, more than 60 minutes in an hour. Shortly after I finished my first Masters in early December 2014. A week later, I was committing to another Master’s degree. I finished that Masters and said I was done. I mean, two Master’s degrees equal a PhD, right?  Wrong.

Before I knew it, I was enrolled in a PhD program and working in a new full-time job that requires more hours in the day than I have. The over-commitment leach has convinced me that sleep is optional and family time is for chumps. I would withdraw from my PhD program, but I have another parasite as well, the see-it-through-if-it-kills-me tick. Both have a grip on me right now. While I do see a light at the end of this semester tunnel – the next two years look fairly grim.