Can I get a refill, please?

I have written before about the question, “How are you?” and most of the time the answer is, “I’m fine.” For a while now, like the last 2+ years, the answer to that question has changed for a lot of people, me included, to “I’m tired.” That does not necessarily mean that we are tired from not sleeping well at night…

There are several ways that statement can be interpreted. A person could be literally tired from not getting enough sleep at night, or a hard days work, or from playing at a game of football, soccer, baseball, etc. A person could also be figuratively tired from a number of things. The biggest factor, in my opinion from figurative tiredness is stress!! Whether that be emotional stress, mental stress, anxiety…it can and does make us “tired”.

Often times we are just tired of things…especially with things that are happening in the country and the world these days. Tired of the kids fighting, tired of rising food costs, tired of high gas prices, tired of picking up dirty socks off the floor, tired of the cold weather, and the list goes on and on. You’ve all seen the quote that says, “Sleep doesn’t help if it’s your soul that’s tired” or “You can’t pour from an empty cup”. For most of us, we see these quotes posted on social media and we scroll right on past them and think, “yeah..ok.”

Now, I am not a big coffee drinker, I have recently started enjoying iced coffee, but I will use coffee as my analogy because I feel many people REALLY enjoy their coffee. A lot of us keep our coffee cups full most of the day right? We are constantly brewing cup after cup or pot after pot so that we can refill our cups. Why is that so easy to do but we find it so hard to refill ourselves from all of the things we are tired of or from? Let’s normalize making ourselves a priority once in a while. It will make us better parents, better spouses, better friends, it will just make us better! Who doesn’t want to be better?

Do something that makes you happy, do something that makes you feel good, do something that ignites the flame in your heart and soul. Don’t think of it as being selfish, because it’s not. We really do need to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others. The next time you feel yourself running on empty, head out and get a refill, you know you deserve it!