Doable is short term. Sustainable is something that you can keep showing up for without burning out. So I used to make decisions based on what I could technically handle. Like, could I do this? Yes. Do I also have the time? Yes. So I would say yes. And then a few weeks later, I 'd be exhausted, overwhelmed, and try to keep up with a version of my life that I could not actually sustain. At some point, I realized that just because something is doable does not mean that it is sustainable. But those are two really different standards.
Doable is short term and sustainable is something that you can keep doing without burning out. So I think a lot of times we make choices from a place of urgency. Like everything feels super important. It feels like it has to happen right now. And so there's this pressure to keep up to stay relevant or not fall behind. So we build lives that only work if we're operating at like 120% all of the time. That is absolutely not realistic. And it sounds sustainable. So the shift that I started to make was asking myself a different question.
So instead of asking myself, can I do this? I'd ask myself, can I keep doing this? Can I keep this pace? Can I keep this workload? Can I keep showing up this way without it costing me my energy, my mental health, or my relationships? And if the answer is no, then something has to change, even if I could force it in the short term. So this has meant saying no to things that look good on paper. This has meant saying no to opportunities, events, social things , and pulling back when I feel myself getting stretched too thin and letting things take longer than I want them to.
So instead of like optimizing every single second of my day to try and do it all, I think about what's actually sustainable. And I think that goes against what a lot of us are taught. I think a lot of us are taught that success looks like being at 120% all the time. But I really believe that sustainability is what's successful, because what's the point of building something that you can't maintain? Now I think about my life in terms of longevity. What routines can I actually stick with? What pace feels realistic?
What version of this still works when I'm tired or stressed or I'm not at my best? Because that's the version that matters. You don't need to do everything that you're capable of. You don't need to do everything just because you can. You just have to choose what you can keep doing.
