Brain Drain

Of all the lessons I’ve learned so far on my journey, one of the biggest is the fact that I have caused so much of my own chaos because I was careless with my priorities and not aligning them with biblical standards. This is a learning path I’m still on, by the way. I continue to overload my schedule, I give too much attention to people who take far more than they give, I don’t treat my body well, I put too much pressure on myself to achieve things that won’t matter one bit on my deathbed, and I ignore the things that I will wish I had put more energy into when I take my final breath.

Do you feel the same? Do you feel like you’re on this crazy hamster wheel that constantly causes your brain to feel jumbled and pulled into a thousand different directions with no solace in the purpose for your actions when you finally lay your head down on your pillow at night? This “brain drain” can be so overwhelming and it’s a vicious downward spiral that drags us into a really dark place of deception. This place can seem hospitable and comfortable at first, but there comes a point where we start to feel a disconnect between what we are doing and who we are called to be. If we were to step outside of ourselves and take an honest look at our moments for what they truly are, I think we would identify a desperate and urgent need to reprioritize the following categories in our lives:

FAITH

Proverbs 31 Ministries has an app called First 5 (click to link to the app). It has been a game-changer for me. Their philosophy is that we need to spend the first five minutes of our day hearing the whispers of God before we encounter the constant shouts of the world. I can’t tell you how many times these shouts have successfully drownEd out Christ’s whispers to be still, be steady in my faith, and be an outward light to others as opposed to throwing an inward pity party for myself.

Let your heart be settled in the Lord before you let your brain become overwhelmed by the millions of pushes and pulls that happen in our daily lives. I can tell you that the days I start with Scripture tend to also be the days I have more patience, less anxiety, an attitude rooted in kindness, and a better perspective for how to prioritize my time and energy. Let your faith come first.

RELATIONSHIPS

I just wrote about this topic not too long ago. It’s one that I am passionate about because it’s also a category I’ve had to be so much more careful with since I’ve started struggling with chronic illness. My capacity for interaction is reduced so I’m becoming very selective about who these interactions are with. The reality is that some people energize us and some people drain us. It’s that simple. Please understand that I’m talking in sweeping generalities as opposed to instances that may occur outside of someone’s typical character. We all fluctuate on the spectrum from time to time, but relationships as a whole tend to fall into one of two buckets.

Some relationships function as a way to rejuvenate our souls and keep us held accountable to our values when life goes sideways. These are the relationships that we need to have a death grip on, and we also need to make sure we are reciprocating what we are being given. These kinds of connections are priceless gold in the world of human interaction; these beautiful humans re-charge us, they build us up, and they provide opportunities for us to grow as people who are caring, loving, sacrificial, and honest as we do the same for them.

There’s another group of people who either intentionally take without giving through selfish intent, or who simply don’t give in a way that we are wired to accept. While we are called to still love them and give where we can, there is a type of energy reservation that needs to happen here. We will only be spinning our tires in infertile dirt that provides zero traction if we throw all that we have at these two types of personalities. Boundaries need to be set for the ones who seem to constantly drag us down whether they intend to or not. For those who are toxic, they simply need to be removed from the equation altogether. For more on my view of relationships, you can read that blog post here - Your Tribe - The Worthy, The Wallflowers, and The Wolves.

TIME

Time - this is such a precious and powerful word. With it, anything is possible, and without it, all is lost. The challenge comes with how to use it wisely. We are given this blank canvas that, once covered, commits us to the picture we’ve created. How does your picture look? Is it filled with beautiful moments or is it in chaotic disarray? Mine is quite the mixture right now, but I am trying to take the tangled mess of scribbles and allow the Lord to turn them into images of joy, hope, and peace.

We are finite, friends. We have no idea how much time we will have to fill; nothing is promised, nothing is guaranteed. View each minute as a generous gift and turn to God for how to best use what we are given.

There are too many precious minutes in my life that I would use differently if given the opportunity for a redo. I feel like my health, while incredibly limiting at times, has also provided me with a second chance to refocus and regroup around what is most important to me. I want to spend every day dialed in on the people and things that should be commanding the majority of my energy and letting go of the things that only superficially demonstrate a sense of worth.

So if you are feeling a bit (or a lot!) of “brain drain,” I’m willing to bet your faith could use a boost, your energy is flowing in the wrong direction, and your time is spent on things that will hold little to no value in your final hour. We will all struggle in these three categories from time to time because these are the three biggest areas in which Satan tries to lie to our hearts. To combat this, let’s turn to the Truth provided by the One who longs to free our minds.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12:2 (ESV)