You Cannot Give What You do not Have

How do you restore yourself? Are you the type of person who always gives out everything even if you are already running out empty? That you have nothing to give anymore?

Perhaps, some of you may take this as a materialistic aspect of life. Well, it's something more than that. I'm talking about the intangible things a person can give to anyone but could cause that person to run out himself.

May it be from your work, relationships, family, friendship, community, and your role in the society. When you feel like you have nothing to give anymore, that just means to say that you lost your sense of balance. You lacked something in that aspect.

For example, you always your effort and energy to work. You are driving with passion and determination, you forgot to take care of your well-being. You started getting sick and you are wondering why. Man, that's your body's way of telling you that you need rest too.

Although this doesn't only happen at work though. I just gave out a more concrete example but it also works on our relationships with someone. Finally, you noticed that you're always giving and giving and giving. You're not receiving anything.

Yeah, it's better to give than to receive and this article doesn't aim to imply wanting to receive back. No, that's not my point. It's about reflecting on yourself and taking care of yourself in return too.

You cannot give what you do not have.

If you don't have peace in your heart, you cannot give peace to others. If you do not have love in yourself, you cannot give love to others.

Some would say that I'll do everything I can to make you happy even if it means taking away my happiness. Naaah, I don't think it's an adorable move of showing your love to someone. Both of you should compromise. It's two-way communication. As the song says, too much love will kill you.

If you go overboard, it gives you a sense of entitlement that you are controlling the person because you give everything to them. That's toxic.

It's crucial to have balance in your life.

Here are some key points you may wanna ask yourself to restore you:

Do you know when to rest?

A lot of us are too dedicated to everything that we do. Especially if it's something we've been aiming for a long time. We always give out our fullest effort and time for it. Hey, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, you deserved to be recognized.

But, do you know when to take a break? You may be feeling tired for a day because you exerted too much on that day. However, if it happens frequently and you're not feeling yourself anymore, you are burned out.

I know a lot of people ignore the signs of burnout. I was once a hardworking person. I ignored the signs of burnout and so I got sick. It led me to where I am now but somehow, things got clearer now and I'm finally getting God's message for me.

You need to pay attention to the signs.

You may feel restless, stressed, irritable, sensitive, and easily frustrated. Those are early signs of burnout. It soon affects your body, your overall health. With that, it's time to give everything to yourself already. That's when you realize that you may go overboard and you forgot to reflect on your well-being.

Listen to your heart. Listen to your body. Listen to your soul.

Do you know how to rest?

Do you know yourself intimately that you know how to rest? It's crucial for us to know when to take a rest but do we know how?

Going on a vacation is anyone's top of their heads resolving burnouts. However, that doesn't work all the time. You may be going on a vacation but your mind is elsewhere thinking about different stuff. Maybe it's not the solution to your burnout.

You could resort to talking to a friend, listening to music, or going to the church and just be silent for a while. It could be making amends to the relationships that were broken, resolving misunderstandings, making up for the mistakes you made.

As for me, I do take a rest by a quiet time away from stress. I resort to going to grandpa's grave and just sit there feeling my soul. When something bothers me, I listen to my soul by having a quiet time. That could work for you too.

You need people to restore you. A strong foundation of support system. We have different ways of coping with a situation and it depends on what kind of personality you have.

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Thanks for reading!

Keep safe everyone ❤