Over the last year I have felt very tired at times; tired to the point where I was at the burnout stage. This was one of the main reasons why I ended up on medical leave for 2 and half months. I am learning (slowly unfortunately) that I need regular personal refreshment in my life. In a previous post I talked about things that I needed to be doing in order to stay healthy. In this post I want to talk about things that I need to be doing to personally refresh myself. Here are some of the things that I have come up with so far:
- Reading. I used to do a lot of reading. Unfortunately as I grew more and more tired this past year my reading virtually stopped. I enjoy reading and it does bring personal refreshment into my life. As I mentioned in another post I have been reading a lot of blogs lately too. I have enjoyed the different perspectives and writing styles of the blogs.
- Blogging: I started blogging when I went back to work in August. So far, it has been a great source of personal refreshment for me. I have enjoyed sharing the things that are upon my heart and mind on any given day. It has also been a great help in keeping me fresh and in keeping my “creative juices” flowing.
- Days off: This week, for the first time in my 12 years of being a pastor I am going to take 2 days off in a row (not including holidays that is). I am realizing that this HAS to be a NORMAL thing, not a once in a while thing. I know that this will mean some major readjustment to my schedule but I am committed to make the changes so that I can get the refreshment that I need.
I am sure more things will surface in the weeks and months to come, but these are the three areas that I am going to be focusing on for now. What are you doing for personal refreshment in your life?
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Good post, Kevin.
You know, I *love* to read but I’m not always good about taking/making the time to do it (well except for required school related reading)!
I’m looking forward to getting back to my reading pile. In fact, I’m going to write a post on my blog in the next few days and include a photo of my reading pile. WARNING: It’s kind of overwhelming to look at, though. I’m a little afraid to count them!
My wife (Joleen) and I are usually pretty good about taking our day off each week (Monday), but we have to be very intentional about it. And even though we took yesterday off, we didn’t really use it all that well. We’ve gotta work on that, too.
With a much-needed vacation coming up next week, we’re hoping to do some re-calibrating of our own!
Thanks for you comments Randy! I wish I could say that taking two days off in a row was a COMPLETE success … but it wasn’t.
I still ended up working on both of those days. I know that it is going to take some major readjustments to maintain two days off but I am committed to doing it.