When It Gets Too Heavy, Put It Down

In this hustle and bustle world we live in, so many of us have our share of things we juggle on a daily basis. Our job, our family, our relationships, our commitments, our physical health, our spiritual health, our emotional and mental health…it’s a lot. In a perfect world, we learn how to balance these things.

But when things get heavy, instead of putting one or two things down and re-shuffling, we just keep piling on. We think we can carry the entire load day after day. It usually goes ok for a while. But at some point, we begin slowing down and hunching over from the weight of it all. 

We weren’t made to live in a state of stress 24/7. The fight or flight burst of energy we get when in a crisis was made for the short term. So how should we handle the heavy things in our life, especially the ones that aren’t serving us?

Actually, the weight of something isn’t what matters. What matters is how long we hold it. 

If I hold a glass of water for 1 minute, it’s no problem.
If I hold a glass of water for 1 hour, my arm starts to ache.
If I hold a glass of water all day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed.

The weight of the glass hasn’t changed but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. 

The stresses and worries of life are the same way.
If we think about them for a short time, it’s not a major problem.
If we think about them for a while longer, it begins to hurt.
If we think about them all day long, all week or month long, we become paralyzed and numb, incapable of doing anything. 

So whenever you’re feeling imbalanced, weighted down by things that are not serving your life, you don’t have to hold on to it. 

You have the power. You can always put it down.