© 2008 Floriana, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio
Yesterday, I had a migraine, and by the time I finished all my work at 5:30, I was so tired I could do nothing but lay on the couch, watch Family Feud, and sleep during the commercials.
Today, I woke with a pain between my shoulder blades and my SI joints completely locked up. My teeth on the right side ache, too, a sure sign that I’m grinding them while I sleep.
My body is telling me – without question – what I have needed to recognize emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually for a while now – I’m too stressed.
I’m saying YES to too many things and NO to myself, too often.
I can’t sustain this. But more importantly, I don’t want to sustain this level of activity. Instead, I want to enjoy every single thing I do. For me, that means I have to DO less so that I can enjoy them MORE.
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This morning, my friend Shawn Smucker sent out his newsletter. In it he says something I needed to hear:
Does the world benefit from us sharing our opinions on everything, or could not sharing an opinion actually be a virtue our world sorely needs more people to practice?
More and more, I’ve felt like I need to share less and reflect more. I find myself wanting to spend more time with my thoughts. I want to weigh my words more carefully before I put them out into the world. I want my ideas to get more space to develop and expand.
In short, I want to write more books and fewer Facebook updates, tweets, and even blog posts.
So I’m only going to be blogging once a week from now on, probably on Wednesdays. I may pop in for special posts when big things happen or when it feels like staying silent is being complicit to injustice or oppression. But mostly, I’m going to savor my words and serve them when they are wiser, better, more helpful, more seasoned.
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I don’t know how you’re feeling these days, if your body is telling you to slow down or if you just feel a little bit of dread about how MUCH each day carries. I don’t know what you can let fall away and what you must continue to carry in your full arms. Only you can decide what is best for you and your life.
My hope and prayer for your days and mine is that we wake excited to live them. I hope that when we open our eyes, we take a breath and stretch to find ourselves rested, our bodies limber, and our spirits eager but calm.
How are your days feeling lately? How’s your stress level? What do you do to keep yourself healthy and balanced?
My Writing Newsletter
While I’ll be writing less frequently on this blog, I plan to write more often on my newsletter. In that bi-weekly email letter, I share resources on writing and reading, talk about my latest projects, share free books and other offers, and make announcements about upcoming events for writers and readers here on the farm. When you sign up, you’ll also get a free copy of Our Best 10, which includes 10 pieces of writing from some of the best writers I know.
God’s Whisper Farm Newsletter
And if you’re interested in getting updates on God’s Whisper Farm specifically, we do weekly newsletters with stories from the farm, updates on what’s available in the farm stand, event announcements, and exclusive newsletter-only photos for the critters and this beautiful piece of land that we steward.