Do you ever get tired?
Silly question, I know.
But, I mean, really, really tired without the option of taking a break or a "time out?"
One of my associates here at CDM told me one day not long ago that he had taken off about three hours in the early morning hours earlier in his week to pursue his passion--running his canoe down White Rock Creek.
"I was able to get more work done in the half a day that remained than I had all the week before because I could actually think clearly!" he reported.
Where do I buy a canoe?
I always know when it is time for a vacation when. . .
. . .I snap at those who are closest to me and who are trying to help me.
. . .I have an extra difficult time getting to sleep at night and remaining asleep through the entire night.
. . .I find myself distracted and jumping from task to task without really finishing anything.
. . .I feel like running away, but not running in the mornings at the lake!
. . .I'm not interested any more. . .in anything, even baseball.
. . .I find it hard to read.
. . .almost nothing makes me feel better.
I'm tired right now. Not sure that I have ever been as tired.
Any suggestions about how to make it until the fall when I can finally take some time off?
I'm really not complaining here.
I'm asking for help!
What do you do when you are tired, really tired?
12 comments:
take a bubble bath.
just kidding...i don't think many men would think that's a great idea.
Being a mom of kids aged 4, 2, and 6 months, I personally never get that tired. (Ha!) But if I did, I would probably like to go out for a nice dinner sans kids.
I wish I had a proven technique to share with you. I know what it feels like to lose interest in even the things I love to do...I guess whenever that happens I just try to shake it up a little and try something new. The anticipation of something different can snap me out of a rut sometimes.
For 35 years I worked the 11-7 shift. In the early years I also took care of my two children in the daytime, before they were in school.
I usually found that vacations were just as tiring as work. What I really liked was just SLEEP.
Larry,
You could try reading this book: "Peace is Every Step" by Thich Nhat Hanh. I found this book to be extremely helpful during a stressful time. Could help get you through.
"Let us not become weary in doing good.."
-Russ
When I get like that, I go into the waiting area of the resource center and talk to people. Not donors, not staff, not even the volunteers whose names I know. I mean the people who are there to get food, sometimes for the first time. It always refreshes my spirit and reminds me of what I am here for. They maintain their sanity in the middle of situations that I cannot fathom: indeed, I often leave the room in awe of their joy, their sense of peace, their capacity for love.
It doesn't help get the grants written or the phone calls made, but it renews me.
Larry:
You're not alone. Take peace and comfort in the fact that you are part of "the shift."
See this preview for the movie:
http://www.theshiftmovie.com/
I think you'll like it.
We take our vacation in October, just after our most busy season is over. We can relate to how your are feeling, I know for Scott this is his most challeging time of year. Here are some ways that we cope. It certainly does not fix that "need to hide under your bed feeling" but it helps use cope.
1. put a pictures of your favorite vacations on as your screen saver. Look at them often and remember it will be here soon enough.
2. we put a "how many days" countdown on the dry erase board, and take great pride in changing the day on it daily!
3. make our to-do before vacation list, and start getting it done. (this I love, I always feel on top of it all just before we leave).
4. Remember how much you are loved, and cherished by those whose life you have touched. You have accomplished so much. You amaze and inspire me and I know that I am not alone.
Love, Sydney and Scott Long
Take a half day and do whatever it is that you most enjoy doing by yourself. Don't take the cell phone. Don't check in. If you can make yourself do it, take off the watch and don't worry about the time.
I think a half day where you are really free can do more than a week of a hectically scheduled vacation to bring peace to your mind.
Larry, this is a familiar feeling to moms of special needs kids every day! I have an eight year old with autism and the day in, day out gets overwhelming at times.
I end up shutting the door to the bedroom and going on the computer. Or taking a nap while my husband takes over.
Can you get away for a mini-vacation?
Sometimes just a weekend at a local hotel, with NO work or work-related activities; just sleep, perhaps a movie, recreational reading or Scripture or a devo book...qa quiet walk, mini-golf or bowling, more sleep...
Labor Day is coming; perhaps a 3 day trip somewhere close? Galveston? San Antonio?..
i'm "assuming" your tired-ness is from work/stress....are you OK physically? Seen a doc lately??
Larry, I think that we should regularly schedule fake meetings for you.... so that when you show up and there's nothing there but a hammock and a nice breeze, you have no choice but to take a break.
Thanks for these responses and suggestions--thanks for the help.
Larry,
What an honest post. I applaud you for ‘going there.’ And I’ve certainly been there. It’s called burn-out, and it’s real, and you have to honor what your body, mind and spirit are telling you and take care of it. We all get it, even when we’re doing something infinitely worthwhile and something that we love -- maybe especially then.
When I feel that way, I try to look for a time to do NOTHING, by myself, for even a few hours. And I mean nothing. Perhaps sit by White Rock Lake, or maybe in my own garden, and say, “This is just for me [and for God.]”
Then, as best I can, I let go of the the inner dialogue, just try to release everything, and wait, but without expectation. And, in that space, let Spirit come, maybe as a ‘still small voice’, or as silence, or maybe as the wind, a bird or butterfly. ‘Not doing.’
Sometimes even reading is too much, but a possibility is Lao Tsu, the Tao Te Ching. Also, my favorite, Henri Nouwen’s The Inner Voice of Love, his personal journal of his own crisis of spirit that he never really planned to publish.
Even the best of God’s helpers have to cry ‘uncle’ sometimes, even it it’s not vacation time yet.
Blessings,
Karen
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