You aren’t meant to do this alone:

If any of you are like me, then sometimes you can overcommit yourself.  I have a bit of a problem with getting myself too involved and then end up being very busy and incredibly exhausted.  I was really bad at doing this when I was in college.  I got myself into many different jobs and leadership opportunities.  I loved all of it, but there were times I got really excited to have a break.  I am now noticing that as I am approaching my third year of teaching, that I am starting to get more and more involved in the school and community around me and that I am doing the same thing I did in college.  I am now coaching two activities, speech and cross country, and I am helping with bookkeeping in basketball.  I am also getting more and more involved in church and still volunteering with IJM.  I love doing all these things, but now I am more and more busy and I am finding I have less free time.  

One day I was reading my Bible, and I found a story that really summed up this idea of overcommitting yourself.  To give some context for these verses, Moses was leading the Israelites before they were in the promised land and was listening to any problems the people were having.  He would listen to both sides and would then inform them of God’s decrees and laws.  There were a lot of problems that arose, so Moses was finding himself incredibly busy listening to all the problems. “Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good.  You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out.  The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.”  (Exodus 18: 17-18) To continue with his advice, Moses’s father in law then told him to find other God fearing men to listen to the people’s problems and help them dispute it in God’s way.  Moses was still going to be doing the work that the Lord had put in front of him, but he was now going to be splitting the jobs amongst others who can be trusted with the Lord’s work.  

I think that it is important that if you struggle to be like me or like Moses in the Bible to think about why we feel we have to do everything?  Is there a deeper reason why we need to keep ourselves busy?  I want you to spend some time in reflection on this, (like I have recently).  I have discovered that my reasoning is I have a bit of a savior complex, and I need to feel validated by all the things that I am involved in.  I am afraid that if I am not super involved and not as busy as possible, that I am not important.  When I first got to college, and I wasn’t involved in anything yet, I didn’t know who I was.  I didn’t think I was important.  The very same thing happened when I first moved to Buffalo Center and started teaching.   I didn’t think that I had an identity besides merely being the Spanish teacher.  This may very well be one of the reasons I felt the need to get involved in many things quickly, besides the pure love of my activities.   The problem with this is that many others in the United States really do struggle with the idea of putting their complete identity into their work and the items that they accomplish.  However, this can also very easily lead to more and more anxiety and stress.  What happens when you fail or don’t measure up to the standards that you had originally set?  What happens when things don’t go as planned?  This is a lot to think about and it can leave many others in a constant state of worry and ultimately feeling as though they are incomplete.  

I was recently looking at an article that discussed the toxicity of the hustle culture written by headversity.  This article stated that when we are in a constant state of hustle or working till the work is done without any rest, our bodies are put in the constant state of fight or flight, and therefore releasing more cortisol into our bodies.  This increased and prolonged release of cortisol leads to many mental health problems including anxiety and depression.  It also usually creates burnout as our bodies will eventually create the rest they have been desperately needing.  I am not saying that it isn’t good to work hard.  I believe that hard work is essential, and our willingness to work for both others and the organizations that we serve actually puts us in a great position to honor the Lord and show others how to do that as well, but when it becomes the only thing we care about, then it starts to become an idol.  That won’t show God’s glory.  

It is also important to realize that if we believe we need to do everything on our own, then we are showing quite a bit of arrogance. I know that sounds harsh, but the reason that I say that is because when we believe that we need to do anything, it may be because we have this idea that we are the only ones who can adequately get everything done.  We may start to think that we are the only ones who can be depended upon, or that we are the best for every single job that we do.  That can start to get a really rough outlook on others and what they can bring to the table.  Even though it can be a hard thing to understand at certain times, we actually can learn more from others doing a task.  Someone is going to be better at a task than you, and we are not going to discover this if we never let them try.  Plus, we could be standing in the way of helping them find their purpose and role in life and for the Lord.  

If you find yourself that you maybe are over committed, there are a few things that you need to do.  I realized that soon if I continue down the path that I am going towards, I am going to have to do some cutting back on some items.  I am going to need to do some serious evaluating as to what items I need to keep in my life and what other things I need to start getting rid of.  However, the one thing that I would recommend when it comes to thinking about cutting back or starting to say no to things is making sure that you pray.  The Lord is really the only one who can help us make the wisest decisions.  Because making prayer here is a priority, it is also really important that we keep the devotional and prayer piece in our life every day or at least most days.  We need to make sure that whatever schedule we pick, we have a time with the Lord set aside.   

In the end, we have been taught at least if you are living in the United States to really want to strive and to hustle through life.  However, that again, can make a lot of us feel as though we fall short and have the need to continue going until we are in a very overworked system.  The Lord doesn’t expect us to do everything.  He expects us to take the opportunities and passions that he has given us and to handle it well.  Again, my favorite verse is Colossians 3:23 which says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”  When doing whatever you can for the Lord, that also includes not overworking yourself.  You don’t need to look like you are a superhero and can do so much.  It is just important that we are just faithful with the items that we have been given.