Maximum capacity

The other day my husband and I were watching some show, and one character says to another, “I’m thinking about retiring.” To which the other character, a work colleague, replies, “From WHAT?!?”

And we laughed really hard and out loud together!

Because who hasn’t been in the situation of comparing workloads in a given moment, whether out loud or in your head?

• Gee, he’s so tired after supper that he has to take a nap… While I do the dishes after having also cooked…

• Wow, she needs to stay inside and regroup on the couch while I do all the snow plowing and sidewalk shoveling…

• What? He’s not able to work? I manage my health issue while holding down a job…

• Really? She needs to “take a break?” From what?!?

We all carry our own loads, yet none of us can “do it all” at any one moment. It’s okay to relax. In fact, it’s necessary. Have grace for yourself when you need a period of recharge. And hold space for others in theirs.

We are complex individuals with a lot going on underneath our appearances. So when I marvel at the idea of any given someone needing a break, that’s really very unfair of me. We all have different capacity. We all need rest. We all manage our own selves in relation to our own stressors.

I’m not proud of the fact that I can catch myself thinking, “Really?!?” at times, when I’m watching someone else’s bobber in this way. But here’s the hook I’ve recently discovered with this:

When I find myself wondering at another’s seeming inability, perhaps it’s really because I’m envious of their standing down. Their giving themselves a break. Their own acknowledgement of, and response to, their capacity in that given moment.

And what that means, is that I’m the one who’s actually out of balance. That it’s time for me to take a look at my own created situation, and to make some healthy adjustments.

To allow myself the necessary sacred pause.

In that given moment.

Thank you for the reminder.

Who do you think has got it made? In what way? Hint: it’s not actually about them. How can you create more of that quality into your own life, periodically?