Trust your body.
Be kind to yourself.
You are enough, just as you are right now.
Your joy matters.
Please tell everyone you know.
– Burnout by Emily & Amelia Nagoski
As we hit the half-way point of this year and move into a new month and holiday week, let’s check in. How are you? How’s your summer going? How’s your body feeling? How’s your mind doing? How are you taking care of yourself? Are you being kind and compassionate to yourself? Are you running on fumes? Are you burnt out? Or are you fanning His flame and burning bright?
I recently finished a wonderful book called Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, and I wanted to share with you all some of the final statements shared by the authors. And hopefully this post will encourage you to add the book to your reading/listening list!
‘Does it really matter how exhausted, overwhelmed, and self-critical – how burned out – we feel?
It does matter. It matters because we want the world to be a better place. We want life to become increasingly good for an increasing number of people. We think you want that, too. And you are part of the world.
When you are cruel to yourself, contemptuous and shaming, you only increase the cruelty in the world, when you are kind and compassionate toward yourself, you increase the kindness and compassion in the world. Being compassionate toward yourself – not self-indulgent or self-pitying, but kind – is both the least you can do and the single most important thing you can do to make the world a better place. Until you are free, we can’t be fully free, which is why all of us together have to collaborate to create that freedom for everyone. Our wellness is tied to yours.’
– Burnout by Emily & Amelia Nagoski
While this book is not faith-promoting, these words align beautifully with the message and mission of Jesus. We truly are better together, and like it says in Galatians 5:14, we demonstrate love to our neighbors as we take care of and love ourselves.
‘Wellness, once again, is not a state of mind, but a state of action; it is the freedom to move through the cycles of being human, and this ongoing, mutual exchange of support is the essential action of wellness. It is the flow of givers giving and accepting support, in all its many forms.
The cure for burnout is not ‘self-care’; it is all of us caring for one another.
So we’ll say it once more time:
Trust your body.
Be kind to yourself.
You are enough, just as you are right now.
Your joy matters.
Please tell everyone you know.
– Burnout by Emily & Amelia Nagoski
As we celebrate freedom as a community and continue on with our summer, let’s care for ourselves and one another.
For all the law can be summarized in one grand statement:
‘Demonstrate love to your neighbor, even as you care for and love yourself.’
Galatians 5:14 TPT
Enjoy your Fourth of July, Friends! Let His freedom ring!
Burning Bright! 