Burning The Candle At Both Ends

“Learn to say no to demands, requests, invitations and activities that leave you with no time for yourself.  Until I learned to say no, and mean it, I was always overloaded by stress.”

-Holly Mosier

 

I am sure I am not alone when I say that I find modern life exhausting.  Last night, for example, I went to the Verizon Wireless store to buy a new phone.  I felt like I was there for hours and as of this moment I am lost in a void between my old phone and my new phone.  I will find my way eventually and make peace with my new phone but at the moment I am full of regret.  Technology can be very cool but it can also be very stressful.  For every benefit of technology, there are also negatives.  The demands of daily life, and especially the demands of dealing with other people, wherever they are, can be exhausting to a person like myself who prefers to be alone and away from the crowd.  A couple of weeks ago I went to Lake Cumberland to visit my son who is now the pastor of three small parishes in the area.  We were there on a Monday morning.  The silence on the lake was deafening.  I had not been present to such quiet and calm in a very long time.  It was even quieter than the monastery I sometimes visit.  When I no longer have all the demands on me that I currently have, I hope to spend more time in such places.  When I have more freedom that will allow me opportunities to do more things, I actually want less activity.  I am weary of demands, requests, invitations, and activities that take more than they give.  If you feel like you are burning the candle at both ends, learn to say no.