In the last few weeks there have been several conflicts among students at my high school. Although every year fights occasionally happen, this year feels different. As I think about my students, our school, and our local community it seems like many people are struggling to reconnect and rebuild as they continue to deal with the stress, loss, and challenges imposed by the pandemic. For some students a year of being isolated from in-person learning, followed by a year of restrictive and confusing guidelines, masked faces, and social distancing has slowed their growth and stripped their joy of learning. Some are suffering from emotional fatigue and even news/media fatigue. They feel overwhelmed, weary, tentative about the future, and unsure of how to balance caring for themselves and others with the demands of life. Do you feel emotionally or mentally fatigued, exhausted or burnt out? Fortunately there are practical ways to treat your fatigue. Some methods you can do on your own, but the most effective approach is to rely on God’s help.
First here are a few basic steps to address emotional fatigue and media fatigue:
- Realize negative feelings happen, but focus on the positive and what’s going well.
- Limit your screen time. Allow yourself to not be constantly interrupted and bombarded by information.
- Do something creative with your hands like ceramics, crafting, sketching, journaling, etc.
- Eat a balanced diet.
- Exercise for at least 30 minutes each day.
- Go outside every day.
- Get at least seven hours of sleep each night.
- Set a goal. Reward yourself in small ways as you make progress toward it.
- Don’t compare yourself with others.
- Look beyond yourself. Do selfless acts of kindness to meet the needs of others.
- Reach out for help. Talk with others.
The suggestions above can help, but a more profound and longer-lasting treatment lies beyond your own efforts. It requires God’s help. Ultimately the problem each of us has is not with other people or external circumstances negatively impacting our emotional and mental well being. The root problem every person has comes from within. You desire to live life on your own terms, but you lack the ability to live up to what a true, abundant, and righteous life requires. The almighty, eternal, holy, and loving God is the creator and sustainer of life (Genesis 1:1-2;7; Psalm 104:1-35, 146:6; Isaiah 42:5; John 1:1-4; Colossians 1:17-20; Philippians 1:6). You have cut yourself off from true life, his life, because you tend to put yourself before him. You need to be saved from the wretched consequences and eventual death that serving yourself inflicts. Fortunately, God knows your problem and deeply desires to save you (John 3:16). He sent Jesus, God the Son, to become an man on earth. Jesus lived the life you should have lived and died the death that you deserve. God raised him from the dead. Now anyone who trusts and obeys him can become a part of God’s family and enjoy the abundant, everlasting life that only God offers (John 1:12-13; Ephesians 2:11-22). That is what it means to be saved, healed, and restored. We cannot save ourselves. But as you humbly rely on Jesus each day, he saves you and transforms you into all you were meant to be.
Jesus is calling you to himself, where you will find rest from fatigue, hope amidst uncertainty, and purpose from futility. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Can you see the wisdom in Jesus’ proposal? The solution for your fatigue is not within yourself. It is by coming to Jesus, listening to his words, following his actions, participating in his work, making his mission your mode of operation, and joyfully letting him live in you. Answer Jesus’ call. Receive him, and you receive life (John 14:6, 17:2-3). When you follow Jesus, everything else comes into proper perspective and you can thrive in your thoughts, actions, and relationships.
This is an awesome approach that divinely surpasses any mental/emotional remedy you could administer yourself. Along with coming, listening, following, and submitting to Jesus I wanted to add one more important aspect for battling emotional fatigue. That is to praise. The Bible is filled with examples of thanksgiving in connection with salvation. The nation of Israel sang after God parted the Red Sea and delivered them from the Egyptian army (Exodus 15:1-21). Israel worshiped God before he supernaturally brought down the walls of Jericho as they began occupation of their promised land (Joshua 5:1-6:27). Even though Mary was a virgin and becoming pregnant would cause a scandal, she rejoiced that God chose her to miraculously give birth to Jesus, the savior of the world (Luke 2:26-56, 3:22-40). When missionaries, Paul and Silas, were unlawfully imprisoned, they prayed and sang to fellow prisoners. God caused an earthquake which resulted in them being freed and the warden along with his household becoming saved (Acts 16:16-40). At the end of this age people from every nation, tribe, and language, in fact all of creation, will recognize that Jesus is Lord and worthy of praise (Revelation 5:1-14, 7:9-17; Philippians 2:5-11).
Everyone can and should praise and worship God. You don’t have to be skilled at singing. You don’t even have to sing out loud. Praise goes beyond singing. It is having a daily heartfelt attitude of praise to God thanking him for who he is and what he does. We sing because of salvation. But also we experience salvation from fatigue as we sing, praise, and give thanks. This is because salvation is more than a one-time event. It’s an awesome work of God in three tenses: past, present, and future. If you trust Jesus’ sacrificial death to pay for your sin, you are saved and God’s Spirit comes to live in you. As you continue to trust and obey Jesus through the power of his Spirit you persevere and grow. You become more like Jesus—you are being saved. When Jesus returns to earth to gather all his followers to reign with him, you will receive a glorified body as he did when he was resurrected. That is the future culmination of your salvation—you will be saved. Praise plays a key role in all three phases of salvation. The book of Psalms highlights our need to praise. “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation” (Psalm 95:1). “Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!” (Psalm 147:1). “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day” (Psalm 96:1-2). Not only does this encourage our own hearts to combat fatigue, but it builds others up also. In addition, it fortifies us to withstand difficulties and not fatigue. And most importantly it brings glory to God. It’s no wonder the apostle Paul exhorted believers to, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:15-17). Likewise in a letter to believers in Ephesus he wrote, “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-19).
We all need salvation, healing, and restoration not just from fatigue, but from our deadly self-centeredness. Although there are some helpful steps you can take, complete salvation can never be realized through your own effort. It requires a relationship with Jesus, the Savior. Trust and obey Jesus and then thank him for the healing and transformation he is bringing about in you each day. Like Paul, I pray that you look to Jesus to meet all your mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:5-6, 13).
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