The struggle to do everything perfectly leaves us feeling like a failure with nothing left to give anyone. Even if Jesus was telling me the thing I’m supposed to be doing right now I might be a little uninterested because every little thing feels huge when I add it to my to-do list. Maybe that’s a little dramatic but it feels that way. Even the things I really want to do feel like chores when I’m exhausted.
Our solution, beyond taking a nap which is a viable option, is to be honest with ourselves. Why are we exhausted? We know the answers already but we also like our excuses—stuff we have to do, people we can’t disappoint, the jobs no one else will do. I get it. These are my excuses too, the ones that have carried me through the better part of a decade. There are really only two things vying for our time: responsibilities and opportunities. How we define them and how they commingle in our lives determines our well-being.