Morning Minute 3/12/24:
“Do You Sometimes Feel…Frustrated?”
That overwhelming feeling that you and your circumstances are out of control!
You are frustrated and irritated with everything and everybody.. At work, two issues pop up while you are working on another. A friend is injured in an accident. You have an argument at home. Or, your child gets sick at school.
Screaming doesn’t help and it seems that your world is crashing down on you all at once. Yes, we have all been there. So, let’s examine possible causes of your frustration.
First: Your inability to accept your current circumstances. There will always be things that we did not cause, nor control. That is part of everyday life. You must learn to accept those things you can’t control. And, to address those things that we can control. For instance, a thunderstorm knocks out the power and fries your computer. You cannot control weather. But, your can ensure that your computer has a surge protector.
Then there are things you cannot anticipate. You get sick and are out of work for 10 days. You lose your job. Your spouse shares they want a divorce. Your home heater quits, leaving you with no heat in the winter. There are some things out of our control that require us to either accept them or work to overcome them.
Second: Your reluctance to deal with the past. Many people are dealing with past experiences or mistakes in their earlier lives. For instance, as a child, you were playing with a younger sibling who was permanently injured due to your carelessness. You may have had an abusive parent as a child; maybe you were hurt. You may have made a decision that injured or harmed someone. You may have had an arrest, a conviction, even a prison term.
Regardless of who was at fault, you must face that issue. and give forgiveness, or find forgiveness. If you were the victim, find a way to forgive the other person, either in person, or quietly by yourself. Forgiving others is very liberating. It frees you from hate, anger, and the desire for revenge. Turn that insult or injury over to God. He will heal your heart.
If you were the one who caused the problem, claim responsibility, and ask for forgiveness. The other person may not forgive you. However, by admitting your fault to them, and to God, He will forgive you, so you can forgive yourself.
Third: Your refusal to deal with God’s plan for you. It can be very frustrating when we don’t understand what God wants to accomplish through us. He may be allowing things to happen to make us stronger. Or, to lead us to a better place, person, or career. It may be that what is happening to us will positively impact ourselves or others. It is important that we wait for His timing. We will always be better off following His plan.
Here is a powerful prayer that you can use to help you through the tough times as you seek to understand His purpose.
“Lord, please grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change, the COURAGE to change the things I must, and the WISDOM to know the difference!”
“Do You Sometimes Feel Frustrated?”
That is today’s Morning Minute.
Morning Minute 3/15/24:
“Do You Sometimes Experience…BURNOUT?”
You are totally exhausted! Absolutely spent! Ready to collapse!
You feel out of control, That everyone else is depending on You. You are worried sick, unable to think effectively, or sleep at night.
This situation is dangerous. It can lead to serious illness, a nervous breakdown, and deep depression. Unresolved, it may lead to a drug, alcohol, or sex addiction. You may harm someone, harm yourself, even attempt suicide.
Let’s understand how this happens, and how to prevent BURNOUT.
First: Your wrong view of leadership. Many of us learned that to be successful, we must control events, people, and timing. We did this by putting the responsibility for everything on ourselves. We end up making all the decisions. This is micro-management, requiring us to become control freaks. This is not only dangerous. It is counter-productive, making you much less effective.
The happiest, most productive leaders, train others to be responsible and disciplined. They teach them how to make decisions. When people make mistakes, they help them learn from those mistakes. This process not only helps you grow a strong support team. It spreads the responsibility for decision making, so that you are not tasked with total control. Those who will not learn nor accept responsibility are cut from the team.
Second: Your wrong view of maturity. As an adult, do you learn best when you are strong or when you are weak? As mature adults, our ego directs that we must be strong enough to have all the answers. Conversely, when we are weaker, we put ourselves in a frame of mind to learn, in order to expand our knowledge. In turn, using that knowledge makes us stronger.
We must accept that we will never have all the answers. We must put our ego aside in order to learn. The more we learn, the more we discover that there is to learn. Mature people are life-long learners, who understand they will never have all the answers.
Third: Misplaced faith. We will never know enough, be strong enough, earn enough, or be reverent enough to handle everything on our own. Trying to deal with everything ourselves, leads to disappointment, weakness, and BURNOUT! As such, we must place our faith in a higher power to help us get through our struggles.
We believe that a bird must flap its wings to fly. However, watch the eagle, the most majestic of birds. It spreads it wings, jumps from its perch, and without flapping its wings, seems to effortlessly glide on the air currents to reach its destination. The eagle did not make the air, nor control the air currents. It still reaches its desired destination.
Like the eagle, who depends on what it cannot control, we must depend that God is in control of the events that lead us to the destination He has planned for us. He has the perfect plan for our lives. He will guide our steps and lead our way. When we accept that He is in control, and follow His lead, He will help us to achieve more meaningful results in our lives. His lead will take us to our best destination.
And, that is how to prevent, or deal with, BURNOUT in our lives.
That is today’s Morning Minute.