We all get tired. The key is in how we respond to our fatigue. What do you normally do when you’re tired? Get snappy and irritable? Or, do you tend to feel overwhelmed and discouraged? We tend to have unhealthy reactions to our tiredness. Check out this post for 10 healthy ways to respond to your fatigue.
1. Identify it
It can be a chore just to identify that you’re tired. This is why we must remain close to God, as He can open our eyes to the root of our issue. So often, we walk around releasing our inner frustrations [including fatigue], on the easiest target. This explains why people lose it over seemingly small inconveniences. The inconvenience isn’t the root of the frustration, it just provided an outlet for the expression of it.
2. Manage it
Once we identify that we are simply tired, we must rely on God on our next steps. What do we do? How do we manage our tiredness? Sometimes we can step away from the crowd, other times we cannot. Either way, it is imperative for us to manage our tiredness in a healthy way.
3. Rest
There are different types of rest. We want to rest in a way that refreshes us based on the type of tired that we are. For instance, you could be physically tired, requiring you to prioritize physical sleep. However, you could also be emotionally, relationally, or mentally tired. In those cases, you may choose rest that allows you to give your senses a break. Time in nature, writing, and a break from work could be the answer.
4. Slow down
This is a big one. The pace of this world is crazy! Our schedules are overloaded, requiring us to rush from one event to the next, with only enough time to stop by a drive-thru. When we’re tired, we have to slow down. Spend some time looking at your schedule to see how you’re spending your time. This leads the way in slowing your pace.
5. Assess your time
When you’re tired, take the time to assess your time. Feeling tired is similar to a warning light. You want to respond to the warning to determine how you got there. Sometimes we have busy days, weeks, or seasons, and we can understand why we’re tired. Other times, our tiredness is identifying that we need to assess our time and make adjustments. We don’t want to live our lives from a space of overwhelm, frustration, and pushing ourselves to the limit. Assess your time and make the necessary adjustments to rest, recover, and live at a sustainable, healthy pace.
6. Communicate
Communication is key. No matter our living situation, we must be able to communicate our needs and desires. As women, it’s easy for us to internalize our needs, without ever verbalizing them to others. This is unhealthy and leads to bitterness, resentment, and overwhelm. It is important to grow in communicating your feelings, as well as listening to the feelings and desires of others. This allows us all to respect one another and work as a team, considering the needs of everyone.
7. Boundaries
Boundaries keep everything in its proper place. They prevent us from overextending ourselves, as well as allowing others to overextend themselves in our lives. Boundaries help us with living orderly lives, expending our energy appropriately. Living without healthy boundaries in place is a sure way of living in a continual cycle of fatigue and frustration.
8. Prioritize
This is another big one. Whether we live by them or not, we all have priorities. The more aware we are of our priorities, the more in line our lives will be. Feeling tired is all a matter of how we’re using our energy. The last thing that we’d want is to live busy lives, all the while neglecting our priorities. Dispensing our energy is a choice. We must choose to prioritize and use our energy reasonably. Using our energy reasonably will allow us to know that we can’t do everything, everyday. Daily, we must consider what most needs to be done and prioritize it for the day. As we notice we are prioritizing certain areas of life repeatedly, we want to truly check in and make adjustments to ensure we’re not neglecting other key areas.
9. Eat well
We must take care of our bodies. How we eat determines how we function and live. Excelling at our various roles in life will be dependent on how we feel. We can’t neglect our bodies and expect to function at peak performance. There may be times when we will rely on quick energy boosters, such as coffee and/or caffeine; however, we don’t want to make it a habit of taking shortcuts to get the job done. This may work in the short term, but in the long run we will pay for it. Our bodies need healthy food and nutrients in order to sustain long-term, healthy living.
10. Make adjustments
When you’re tired and begin assessing your life, be prepared to make adjustments. Consider your tiredness as a sign for change. Ask yourself: What changes do I need to make so I can do the things that need to be done, but at the same time enjoy life? God does not desire us to live stressed out, maxed out lives with tired souls. He desires us to come to Him, so He can give us rest [Matthew 11:28]. As we do, He will guide us in how to do the things that we have to do, from a place of peace, fulfillment, and enjoyment.
He is able.
Read The Blessing of Balanced Days
