Tapped Out

**Due to traveling, I was not able to visit a new church this Sunday. We’ll pick back up on the hunt when the ol’ schedule slows down.

 

Do you ever just feel tapped out? Like the level of exhaustion you feel is so heavy that a flea fart would make you just crumble into a pile of rubble? I’m right there with you. For me, this kind of exhaustion almost always is accompanied by a feeling of physical heaviness.

The worst part about this dynamic duo is that there may not be a clear reason why you feel this way. Luckily for you, I’ve compiled a list of helpful questions to assist you in finding the root of your exhaustion.

1. Did you just run a marathon? No.
2. How about a triathlon? Obviously not.
3. Do you have a small child, or, God help you, more than one small child? Definitely not.
4. Have you solved a large-scale social crisis, i.e. world hunger, human trafficking, the declining literacy rate, mass stupidity rate, etc.? Not today.
5. Do you wrestle large animals, perhaps in mud, for a living and/or also capture these matches on film for semi-educational purposes? I would like to, but I’m just not at that point in my life yet…
6. Are you an educator of any kind? Err…I mean, not exactly…
7. Do you manage large amounts of money for more than 50 people in any given day? I don’t even manage a small amount of money for one person, sooo no.
8. Have you recently been entrusted with a secret that, if made known, could topple the country’s infrastructure like Jenga tower? Does knowing whodunit in Clue count?
9. Are you the family therapist for the Kardashians? I’d rather be stranded on a desert island with an assortment of the Real Housewives.
10. Do you regularly compete in professional bodybuilding competitions? Nah, I had to give that stuff up.

If your answers to the above questions were in the negative, then you have no right to be exhausted.

Just kidding! There are so many factors that affect our energy levels. Whether it’s too much travel, too much alone time, snarky co-workers, family feuds, heavy workloads, too much polite small-talk, health issues, school overloads, romantic woes—the list goes on and on. What is worse is that sometimes the exhaustion just hits you like an air conditioner unit falling out of a window on a busy street. One minute you’re power-walking to work off that chocolate-glazed with every-kind-of-sprinkle-known-to-man doughnut you’ve just devoured and the next, BAM, you’ve had the sprinkles knocked out of you.

For the past few days, my sprinkles have littered the ground around me. I found myself running on empty, and I had no idea how my levels had depleted so quickly. They’re sneaky, these energy crises of ours. So how can we combat the inevitable crash?

• Take inventory. If you can practice being more self-aware of your feelings and moods, then you can stop and recharge before you get to the crashing point. This way, we can keep from making those around us deal with the grumpy, tired version of ourselves that is better left locked in a box beneath the bed.
• Know your limits. Some people can run 92,347,892,384 miles a minute and not be the least bit tired. Chances are you’re not that person. We all have limits to how busy or social we can be before it gets to be too much—and that’s okay. It’s better to do one thing at 100% than five things simultaneously at 20%.
• Prioritize. Like it or not, you’re going to have to learn to say “no.” It can be so hard to pick and choose what activities or events you need to invest your energy and attention into. Unfortunately, it’s life. We all need to prioritize to have a shot at contentedness.
• Let it go. You’re not going to make every ball game, birthday party, wedding shower or game night that happens in your loved ones’ lives. There will be deadlines that you miss, goals that you don’t hit and people that you disappoint. Practice having a forgiving attitude, towards others and yourself. If you can work forgiveness into your mindset now, then you will have a much smoother journey through this life.

Above all, you have to trust that God is bigger than any problem in your life. While that is easier said than done, it is absolutely vital to remember His strength any time your weaknesses peek through. Everything that I’ve written here is basically what I try (and more often than not, fail) to do every single day. Let’s get through it together, shall we?

Margaret, The Rope Editor

 

How do you fight the fatigue? Leave a comment or email therope@thealabamabaptist.org.