5 Tips for Beating Fatigue. No, I'd rather call this - Dime Day, in which Sheila Gives Her Two Cents, Five Times...

I am reluctant to call this post "5 Tips for Beating Fatigue".  Why, I don't know.  It sounds too all-knowing, I suppose.  So, this is "dime day".  This is where I give you my "two cents worth" - five thoughts, worth two cents apiece equals a dime.

I've read many articles about overcoming tiredness.  I've read a couple of whole books about dealing successfully with fatigue.  The articles especially sort of sound the same, and I began to wonder if the writers don't have "google syndrome"....you know, where you google something and then write about it.  Everyone starts to sound like everyone else on the world wide web.

Can't tell you how many times I've figured out that someone just googled something, and then thought they had the tiger by the tail, becoming a Mr. or Mrs. Let Me InformYou....a veritable fount of wisdom.   "The whole context of that  is thus and thus." 

Whole?  Really?  Hoo boy.  I've even seen people google their theology.

"Let's see what "research" I can do on grace..."

There is a hollowness to googled information, or any information merely "looked up" and not lived out...it lacks flesh and bone...it is two dimensional....and it doesn't ring true to the discerning ear.  Ask any high school English teacher or any college professor.

So yeah, Mr. or Ms. Google-It.  It may have been a lot of years ago, but I did read the book.  I've invested several months or even years into what I am saying - not sure how long it took you to google it.  Thanks but...I sort of knew most of what you are saying before there was google.  But I appreciate the....tip.

Obviously, there is a place for googling for information.  To be able to google for fuller, deeper resources on your subject is a fantastic time saver.  I love seeing all the books out there on, say, French interior design.  Or Swedish.    And so long as you are not pretending to have done actual research, by all means, google away, and tell me what you found!

That said, I didn't google any of this stuff.  Rather, I have lived it, and am still living it, however imperfectly.  Without further ado, here is your dime's worth!

1.  Drink plenty of water.  You'd be surprised how tired you feel when your body is slightly dehydrated.  Trust me, you can live in a state of mild dehydration, and wonder why you feel so whipped.

2.  Do something happy!  Do something you enjoy - each and every day.  Intersperse your work with small pleasures.  I schedule my happy interludes - right into my day.  My days can be pretty intense, between home schooling a challenging teenager, and ministry, and life in general.  My days can be extremely routine in their intensity.  That is a combination that makes for bone tiredness. 

So, when I make up my "to do list" each day, I write down and schedule in things that please me.  Every single day.  I don't just let it happen, however it happens, whatever it might be...I know exactly the things I want to do this week, and I plan them.   I plan them according to my whims and moods for the week. This is important.  This week, I plan to knit, bake some bread, plant some lettuce, take off to some thrift stores, and readreadreadreadread.  I keep a long list of small things that bring me joy, and when  I am stuck or peevish, I pick from the list and just do it.  This one bit of advice alone is worth ten dollars, not just two cents!

3.  Work.  Believe it or not, (most of you believe me, I know) this is key.  Don't spend the majority of your time doing whatever you feel like doing.  Avoid that sense of mid-life entitlement - or empty nest entitlement.  Or "the kids are finally all in school" entitlement.  Or "I've worked for years, and now I don't have to" entitlement.  There's lots of ways to feel entitled to slack off.   But it won't infuse you with energy. You were created for work - work that glorifies God.  Spend your day accomplishing!  Work and work some more, and work most of the day - and schedule in the things you enjoy around the edges and little breaks in your day.  Keep the big picture in your mind as you work - know that what you do in your work fits in with your dearest ideals and objectives.  Tiredness is not your enemy...mind numbing boredom is.

4.  Push through.  I am befuddled at the women who simply stop when they feel tired.  You have reserves of energy you have not begun to tap, if you normally stop when you feel tired.  If you push through the tiredness and keep working, the vast majority of the time you will catch a second wind.

And did you know you have a third, fourth, and even sometimes fifth wind waiting to be called upon?  Unless you are  sick or extremely sleep deprived, you  have energy reserves that are begging to be tapped.  Your human body has energy rythms that rise, peak, and drop off...only to rise, peak, and drop off again...and again...all in one day's time.  Next time you feel tired, try pushing through it.  You'd be surprised how conditioned we are to take breaks when we are weary! 

You can rest tonight.  And we can all rest when we're dead.

5.  B-complex vitamins.  Liquid form only, taken sublingually.  Wal-Mart sells a brand that runs about $6 or $7 dollars (versus twenty-something for other brands in health food stores) and it is the same thing as the very expensive liquid B's.  Works for me, anyway.

Well, I want to tell you to get sunlight, and to repair your strained relationships, deal with your emotional issues, and address your thought life...but I've limited myself to a dime.  Next time, it'll be "dollar day", okay?