My dear readers, you are resilient. You can do more than you can imagine. You know your limits well. In your deepest part of your being you know when to say no or to call for help. You can take breaks and cooling off periods so that you may approach the next day with vigor.
When we are pushed to our limits we need to reassess our priorities to find sanity amidst the chaos of daily life. Sometimes being productive means taking rest to do your next best thing with more energy and focus. For me that often looks like taking a nap or going for a walk with my dog.
One night, I was tossing and turning in bed and I couldn’t stay asleep. My nose was congested and I was cold. My covers fell off. I was exhausted. For a few days in a row I couldn’t get much sleep. This is a tell-tale sign that things could get worse and I needed to put everything else aside to rest. My symptoms of bipolar disorder could come back and then it would be a lot of management of emotions, thoughts, and medication. Trying to find equilibrium in a fatigued body is not easy.
I was feeling stressed from all sides. I knew I needed to do something quick.
I crawled back in bed and my dog snuggled up beside me. I slept throughout the day taking breaks to eat healthy food and take my dog for a walk around the neighbourhood. I talked to my doctor the next day and he said I did all the right things to get back to health.
If you are feeling pushed to your limits, remember you do not have to do it all. Slow down, take a few deep breaths, and reach out for help if you need it.
“I would like to take your hands for a moment and assure you that you are built well for these times,” writes Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, a post-trauma recovery specialist and psychoanalyst, in Do Not Lose Heart, We Were Made for These Times.
“Despite your stints of doubt, your frustrations in arighting all that needs change right now, or even feeling you have lost the map entirely, you are not without resource, you are not alone.”
We get better in our community. Our friends and family can help. There are beautiful souls we can contact to ask for a listening ear or help to take care of some of our daily duties we aren’t able to get to. Maybe they can make dinner or do the gardening or assist us in some other way.
Don’t be afraid to say no. You are not a robot and can’t do everything. If you don’t have the capacity for something, it’s a good time to press pause and lean in to rest.
Find your top three priorities for the day and stick to those. It will help you to get the necessary done first and if you have the time or energy to do more you can.
“In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. Do not make yourself ill with overwhelm. There is a tendency too to fall into being weakened by perseverating on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails,” Estés writes.
My dear readers, I hope you know that you matter and that you are loved.
“We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear. Didn’t you say you were a believer? Didn’t you say you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn’t you ask for grace? Don’t you remember that to be in grace means to submit to the Voice greater? You have all the resource you need to ride any wave, to surface from any trough.”
In times of intense activity and stress, seek your sanity by taking a rest. Even God took a rest after creation. When you are pushed to your limit, Jesus is there with you. You are never alone and you are loved. His grace can provide you the strength to carry on in hard times.
With much reflection and prayer, remember that you are needed in this beautiful and messy world. Do not give up hope for there is a purpose for your life. You are a precious child of God!
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