Are You Tired?

Have you mentioned lately “I need a second cup of coffee” or “I’m just so tired” or maybe you are finding that your “head hurts” more increasingly lately. Or for you, maybe you feel like you keep saying yes and putting more on your plate and find it hard to manage. Or maybe instead, you find that you have an emotional response that’s either surprising even to yourself, or just comes out more quickly than you thought it would.

If you find yourself saying yes to any of these things, you may be experiencing fatigue and exhaustion. In her recent book, Tired of Being Tired, Jess Connolly shares that there’s a few types of fatigue – spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional. What you’ll find below are some of the symptoms for each and then we will dig into what you can to do find rest in each.

Spiritual Fatigue

• Fear you’ll disappoint God
• A distored view of the gospel
• Striving
• Fear or dread about the afterlife
• Hard time receiving or giving compassion
• Feeling defeated about your own life or future

Physical Fatigue

• Yawning, headaches, dizziness, sore muscles
• Saying yes because no one else will
• Staying up later than is wise to get time for yourself
• Feeling moody or irritable
• Feeling like you can’t be fully present

Mental Fatigue

• Stress headaches
• Trouble sleeping
• Feeling confused or being behind
• Numbing out (streaming, scrolling, etc.)
• Poor memory or cognitive function
• Feeling panicked or anxious

Emotional Fatigue

• Irritable
• Apathy
• Unprovoked tears or anger
• Physical fatigue or soreness
• Depression
• Sense of dread or hopelessness

You may have been nodding along as you read through those. Either to a few or to many of them. Or maybe you only identified with one or two of them and honestly don’t feel very tired right now. Wherever you are, pay attention to it.

What’s most important is recognize how many of those you may be able to relate to and in which categories. If you find yourself saying yes to more than a few in one of those groups, below you’ll find some applicable tips to help combat your fatigue. These tips come from the book I mentioned earlier as well as some others like the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, A Minute to Think, as well as my own experience.

You don’t need to do all of these things to feel better, but my hope is that you can pick 1-2 in the category you most identify with and put them into practice. Again, these won’t completely change you from feeling tired to energized overnight, but practicing ways to invest in rest for your spirit, body, mind, and heart will be important.

Spiritual Fatigue

• Create space for solitide and silence with God
• Change up how you spend time with God
• Create a gratitude practice
• Create a rhythm for repentance
• Spend time memorizing scripture or meditating on it
• Create a Sabbath rhythm
• Spend time journaling to God
• Ask for help or for others to pray on your behalf
• Go on a prayer or gratitude walk

Physical Fatigue

• Pay attention to your energy and recognize your limits
• Create an evening and bedtime routine that works for you
• Increase the amount of time you sleep per night
• Wait before immediately saying yes to opportunities
• Get outside
• Drink enough water
• Decrease your caffeine
• Find ways to move your body and exercise
• Plan margin in your day to actually move at a slower speed
• Sit down to eat meals, don’t stand
• Take a nap
• Lay down and put your legs up the wall to increase circulation

Mental Fatigue

• Create a morning routine that’s life giving for you
• Do a brain dump each day to get all the thoughts out on paper
• Create a priority list for what actually needs done that day
• Limit time on your phone (before bed and in the morning can help)
• Clear the physical spaces that are stressing you out
• Take short walks to clear your head
• Plan the week and month with intention
• Decrease or eliminate TV or streaming for a period of time
• Single task
• Consider mindfulness or meditation
• Take longer vacations or time off if possible
• Take short mental breaks during your day

Emotional Fatigue

• Create space to get your feelings out – possibly physical space or a time of the week where you check in with yourself
• Practice transitioning well. Take a beat before you move into the next meeting or the next room.
• Create a journaling practice
• Find someone safe to process your emotions with
• Cook your own food at home and enjoy it
• Listen to music or watch a movie that allows you to tap into the emotions you need to feel
• Spend time connecting to others through a coffee date or on a walk
• Keep track of the trends you have in your emotions so you can anticipate rather than be surprised by them

As you experiment with these, see if habit stacking a few could be helpful. For me, I have tried to make sure I eat lunch during the work day, and take it outside and sit and soak up some sun while I do it. I also may go for a walk to clear my head while meditating on a verse or picking things along my walk I’m grateful for. I’m not doing it to strive or check off boxes, but doing it because these are things I know are personally helpful for me.

So think about the areas above. If you’re feeling tired, is there one of those areas that you feel is the strongest cause of your exhaustion? Pick a few things from there that you can experiment with over the next few days and weeks. See what works and what doesn’t. Then consider adding in another one from the same or other category if you found you were feeling tired in more than one way.

And if you feel like you’re not tired at this time, bookmark this or screenshot some of these tips for yourself for the future or to share with a friend if they find themselves experiencing fatigue.

And I’ll leave you with this reminder from Matthew 28 – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”