“If you take life more slowly than your energy level is capable of, you can become lazy. If you continually run at a pace faster than you are capable, you can burn out. You need to find your balance.”
I used to think that being lazy meant that you didn’t care or that you didn’t want to put in the work needed to do the thing you needed to do.
As I read this quote, it highlighted to me the impact energy levels had on our efforts. There are times where we can “will” ourselves to accomplish a task and there are other times where it feels near to impossible to do the task. The reality is that everyday is different and that includes your energy levels. It would be sweet to function at 100% 7 days a week. I wish life were like that but the reality is that some days we’re at 100% and other days we’re at 40%. We can’t expect to accomplish the same amount of work on a day where we are at 100% versus a day where we’re at 40%. If you set that expectation, you might be setting yourself up for failure and eventually burn out.
Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t have expectations for your day because we all know that if you don’t run your day, it will run you. Meaning that you need to have some idea of what you’d like to tackle for the day in order to focus your mind, because if you don’t your mind will take you to where it wants to go. And if you’ve ever been burnt out before your mind just wants to shut down.
What I’m talking about is making the adjustments. Listening to your body, mind and spirit and accessing what you need.
This might be a good time to mention that God’s grace is sufficient and it’s really by His grace and mercy that we see Him make a 40% day into a 100% day.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
So regardless of where you are and what you have to do today, just remember that every day looks different and that we can always turn to God in our time of need because even in our weakness His power is made perfect.