But imagine pressure building inside you continuously. It doesn’t matter how tough you are, you’ll eventually blow up.
It feels very lonely when you realize that you’re so complicated that there is only one Person who can really put up with you- God.
This realization becomes a lot heavier to bare when God to you is nothing more than an idea or a powerful being hard to reach. For some of us finding contentment with God is so hard because we can’t really touch Him or see Him or get instant clear feedback.
I know He exists. I know He’s there. I know He speaks to me in various ways. I know I feel Him, His influence, His power, His Spirit, sometimes. I know.
However, despite all this, I always feel some deep chasm inside me, a hopelessness. An inner exhaustion. A lot of the times I want to give up. Maybe not suicide give up but “just let loose and live however you want to because you only live once and life is too short” kind of give up.
To be honest, I get tired of this Christian walk sometimes. It gets really hard you know. We often have to learn or overcome so much in such a volatile space and in such a short time. No doubt God can do it in us but still, it’s hard.
I can be doing well for some days, weeks or months but then there are those days when I just break down. I hate this part of my life but I’ve learnt a few things to help you get through this phase and perhaps avoid it altogether or for the most part.
1: Keep identifying your distractions
In my case, distractions are my poison. They drain my life force.
We live in a world where the ability to multi-task seems like the most admirable skill to have. We want to do everything all at once.
There is nothing wrong with multi-tasking in and of itself but ,when you find yourself doing more than you’re supposed to just to keep up with some societal standard, you’ll quickly burn out.
You are unique. There is a certain way that you think. A special way in which you contribute to the greater cause of humanity. The moment you come out of your lane and try to please everybody you’ll quickly experience the effects of your mind and body going on strike.
Be true to yourself. Be honest with yourself about what it is you have to do and when. Focus on those things, those people, those dreams.
Don’t be told how many times to pray or fast or read your Bible. Figure that out with God.
2: Recalibrate again
So, the first step is to identify your distractions. Mind you, these distractions can come in the form of people.
When you’ve identified what is distracting you, do some self-introspection on what it is you want to do. Reconnect with your true self. What are YOUR dreams? Who are YOUR friends? Who are YOU?
I place emphasis on the words YOUR and YOU to try and make you realize that in this world you are either doing what you think the world expects from you or what you expect from yourself.
Recalibrate with the latter. Remove all the things that do not fit into your identity or purpose.
3: Be brutal
Without wasting a lot of time on this point all you need to know here is that you need to be brutal about getting rid of stuff.
Its all about minimalism. Have in your life only what you need. It has helped me a great deal and I now find myself not having to focus on too many things, especially unnecessary stuff.
In the book “Minimalism: Living a Meaningful Life“, the writers open our eyes to the importance of minimalising all aspects of your life. The most interesting points to me where those that centered on minimalising our social lives.
The people in your life can either weigh you down or build you up. Focus on having quality people, quality projects, quality clients or quality goals, rather than quanity.
You’ll thank me later.
4: Anticipate your fatigue
There are things I can do but God is the real reason I make it through each day.
I can testify to the fact that too much of anything is bad for you.
It doesn’t matter what it is but if you have too much of a certain thing you’ll grow weary of it or take it for granted. This includes everything, even religion.
We all need to learn to pace ourselves. Figure out your own rhythm and don’t let anyone trick you into believing there is one solution for all, especially when it comes to faith.
Don’t be told how many times to pray or fast or read your Bible. Figure that out with God.
If you want to learn a bit more about the dangers of excessiveness, I found a short article on the Psychology Today website.
5: Keep offloading
Don’t be like me, let things out.
You’ll be amazed how much stuff humans being can store inside of themselves. Trust me, I know, I have taken full advantage of this.
But imagine pressure building inside you continuously. It doesn’t matter how tough you are, you’ll eventually blow up.
If you’ve been very serious about minimalising your life you should have a good support structure in which you can offload all your problems. Use it.
As you release the pressure building within you, you give yourself the chance to reset so you can get back to “faithing”, or whatever it is you like to do.
Conclusion
These tips aren’t restricted to helping you keep yourself going in terms of faith only but in life as well. I work very hard in everything I do, and at times too hard, and just implementing these few things helps me keep going in this very stressful world.
That and prayer of cause. There are things I can do but God is the real reason I make it through each day.
