Nadine J Walters – My Life

Question of the Day : Is it okay to do just enough? (This question is an offshoot of the previous post “Is it okay to just be good enough?)

My answer: Sometimes, yes—but at what cost? What does “just enough” do to our self-image, our public image, and, more importantly, our relationships?

I often fall into the “barely enough” trap when I’m mentally or physically drained. I wonder—has it always been this way? Or am I simply at a stage in life where exhaustion feels more common than not? Maybe it’s cyclical. Perhaps my energy and drive follow the seasons, rising and falling with the light.

Still, I deeply believe it has to be okay to do just enough. Not only because I’m currently in that space, but because constantly pushing—always striving—can lead to a deeper kind of burnout. Not the slow, familiar ache of fatigue, but a sharper, more piercing pain that comes from pushing too hard, too long, when your heart just isn’t in it. That kind of overexertion seeps into the body, mind, and spirit. It breeds anxiety. It whispers, You’re not doing enough, even when you are—and that’s a vicious cycle.

Don’t get me wrong—I know how to push. I know how to go deep when something matters. But I don’t push just to keep up anymore. That kind of comparison-driven effort doesn’t serve me. I’ll always go the extra mile for the people I love, but I’ve learned to step back when I’m tempted to hustle for approval or admiration. That’s just not how I operate these days.

I look at my kids and see something admirable. They don’t push constantly, yet they get things done. They achieve, but they also rest. They seem to understand something I’m still learning—that doing just enough sometimes allows you to relax and rebound when more than enough is truly needed.

I used to know how to do that too—when I was younger, a new parent, even in the early days of becoming an “older” adult. So what changed? Maybe it’s just that I’ve done the pushing. I’ve checked the boxes. I’ve climbed the mountains. And now? I want to live at a slower pace, to retreat into something gentler.

I’m not competitive these days—not in the traditional sense. I still set goals, I still live with intention, and I’m driven—but on my own terms. I do more than enough when it matters. But in my everyday life, I welcome the slow, the soft, the simple.

Doing just enough isn’t laziness. Sometimes, it’s wisdom. It’s listening to your body, your spirit, your season. It’s saving your strength for the things that really matter. And maybe, just maybe, that’s more than enough.