ashlynng

Not every kind of depletion announces itself right away; some just quietly settle in and stay. It builds up slowly in the early mornings and late nights. Lingering in the days that you pushed through, even though your body was screaming for rest. When you decide to listen to your body, you find that instead of relief, you are faced with feelings of guilt, as if you are falling behind on something. It’s as if you have to earn rest before you are allowed to experience it. This is emotional burnout, and it makes rest feel like a problem rather than a remedy. This feeling has roots that run deeper than a full schedule or a season filled with demands. In this, Jesus calls us to Himself: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28, NIV The Mixed Signals Society Sends About Rest Today’s culture suggests that rest is something you arrive at only after you have finished everything else. It is the mindset that says you rest once the work is done and the goals are met. It is a message that rings the bell of having to prove you deserve a break. For those already depleted, this list never ends, which means rest never quite comes. The result is a balancing act where the body is trying to slow down, and the mind is running a constant argument of why stopping is not an option. The outcome of this internal battle is a low-grade shame that follows anytime there is a moment of stillness. It is a persistent feeling that a person should be doing something more useful than breathing. And underneath all of this is a set of competing values between the belief that productivity equals [...]