When You Can't Go Another Step

When you can't go another step, stop. Stop and rest.

When my children were young, I bought into this idea that I had to do it all. I had to be the best mom and wife and sister and daughter and friend. I thought that, if I just pushed a little more, maybe I could make it. Maybe I could do it all.

Pausing and resting?  That would have been weakness and laziness, wouldn't it?

And so I pushed and I pushed and I pushed.

Until I broke. I broke into a million pieces, it seemed, and I wasn't sure how I would ever get myself back together again.

And all because I couldn't accept that I might be less than perfect. That I might not be able to do it all. And certainly not perfectly. That I might actually need help.

Your situation might be different. You might not be a young mom of three toddlers, you might be something different. But your place might be the same. Expecting perfection, not accepting anything less. Not admitting that you're just human, not allowing yourself the grace to not always be enough by yourself. Not being patient enough with yourself when you just need time to rest.

And whether that's resting in body or spirit or emotion, I don't know that it matters. But I think we need to give ourselves permission to not do it all, to not be it all, to not have it all figured out.

Rest. Stop. Take a breather. It's okay that you're not perfect.  Anyone who looks like they are probably has a big ol' mess of crazy going on where you can't see it.  So, relax. Give yourself a break.

It's just life.