Banksy said “When tired, learn to rest, not quit”. Resting is not laziness. Laziness is resting before you get tired. Every morning as we wake up, our body is kind enough to release a hormone called cortisol that gives us a fresh burst of energy to face yet another day. Surprisingly, some people wake up to idleness and get into rest mode before they get anything done. Cortisol is known as the “stress hormone”. When released into the body in normal proportions, it gives a healthy level of stress; the kind of stress that makes you get up and chase after your dreams, that makes you increase your pace to meet deadlines and push you into taking actions that create progress. Too much stress however, causes the body to release high levels of cortisol which can lead to high blood pressure, poor sleep, anxiety, irritability, depression, fatigue and digestive problems which will make your body so tired, unhealthy and feel like giving up.
Working hard can undoubtedly be very rewarding but often drains us to the last ounce of energy. In this fast-paced rat race, it’s easy to be in constant high pressure, high stress mode. In response, the body goes into a “fight or flight” mode; it is constantly evaluating whether it should fight through the stress or simply take flight and just ‘run away’. It is therefore normal that when you are tired, you may feel like you cannot take it anymore, you cannot go on and you just want to quit. This is your body giving you a signal of cortisol overload. It does not mean you should quit; your body is suggesting that you take a rest, meditate, go on vacation/retreat etc and let the cortisol levels subside. Before you consider quitting, consider resting. Resting is not laziness. Laziness is resting before you get tired.
