On Sunday I woke up, made some coffee and started writing. I took the featured picture that you see and got my post all ready to go. I purchased the laptop in the picture on Black Friday as I wanted to upgrade because I have been writing all of my blog posts on my iPad. I was ready to hit publish, but the button would not let me click. The site said that it was “auto saving.” So I decided to hit the refresh button because nothing else was working. Little did I know that it did not auto save and all of my work from the last hour was gone. I had to get ready to go to church and dance, so I had no time to rewrite it. At that point I had a choice to make.
No matter if it is about a hobby that you are investing time into, work that you are getting paid to do, or anything in-between it is not fun when our work disappears. Frustration is the first emotion that comes to mind. Second angry. Third might be sad or upset. Instead of any of those emotions, I decided to move on. I knew that I did not have the time in that moment to be frustrated because it was time for the next thing. Getting upset was not going to bring back my work from the last hour. Getting angry was not the emotion that I wanted to bring into church with my family to watch my cousin preach. I am still learning about how to use WordPress on my laptop because it is a little different than from the app on my iPad, so I knew that it was an amateur mistake. There was nothing I could do about it at that time.
Now I write to you about that experience not because the same thing is going to happen to you, but maybe it has. Maybe you spent an hour working on a gift for Christmas only to find out that it just is not going to turn out like you had hoped. Maybe you worked for an hour to cook a meal, and it tastes horrible. Maybe you worked for an hour or more on a project that is no longer going to be necessary. What do you do about it?
As I have written about many times, it is good for you to feel the emotions that come up. What you do about those emotions is your choice. All we can do in a day is our best. We all only have so much energy – kind of like our cars only can be filled with so much gasoline.
You may have a full tank of gasoline in your car, but it is inevitable that if you use the car as intended that it will run out of gasoline or electricity (if you have a fancier car than me.) You need to refuel your car, and give your car time to recharge and sometimes replace the pieces. We need to care for our energy the same way. We can rest our bodies and sleep at night, but we still need to refuel sometimes. You may be someone who likes to spend time with friends and people that you enjoy to refuel. You may need some quiet time alone with your thoughts as you write or read about someone else’s adventures to refuel. You need to eat good food to take care of yourself. Too much of the wrong food can wreck you – just like the wrong kind of gasoline or oil will not make your car run correctly. Sometimes we have to take our car to get it washed or repaired – pamper yourself and make appointments to check up on how your body is doing.
If you are running on empty, here is your sign to make time to refuel so that by the time Christmas is here you will not be wiped out. Your body knows how to make you shut down if you do not take the time to do it yourself. Don’t wreck yourself before Christmas is even here. Save your energy and refuel. Use your energy wisely and make/take the time to do what you enjoy. Say no to things that do not support you or build you up. Only you know how much fuel you have and what you need to do to refuel and rest. You would do it for your car – do it for yourself, too.
I hope that you read this knowing that I want what is best for you. During a season of giving, it is easy for kindhearted people to give too much away. Going into debt over gift giving is not a smart choice. Neither is overextending yourself when you already know how much time you have in each day. Time is not going to change, but what you pressure yourself to accomplish can be. Yes, you can be both rested and have an amazing holiday. It may take you a few holidays to find a better balance, but one step you can take today is finding a way to refill your energy tank. Make your choices wisely one day at a time.
Cheers,
-Em
A Time for... Everything 
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