Lead me to the cross

When the storm rages
And my strength fails me

When my heart grows weary
And shouts gradually turn to whisper

Hold my hand
Lead me to the cross

Solitude

Walking on the road of solitude

I lose sight of the multitude

On this road of self identity

I find serenity

In this intra-personal relationship

I find true companionship

In a state of this kind

Deep thoughts flood my mind

With the spirit and body closer

The vision becomes clearer

Walking on the road of solitude

I fall in love with myself over again

               

     

Sometimes, all we need is a break

Sometimes we expect too much from ourselves and this causes us to be stretched. We go beyond our elastic limit and sometimes, we even get to the breaking point. It is at that point that we realise we’ve pushed ourselves too far.

If you’ve been around workaholics, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Some people work round the clock without having time for themselves and their families. We are so keen on making ends meet, getting so much done all at once and making money. While doing this, we sometimes neglect people and things that really matter.

“Good, better, best, I shall never rest…until my good is better and my better best”. I guess you’ve heard this before. I remember those times we used to sing this song on assembly ground in primary school. I also remember my principal in secondary school used to tell us “hard work doesn’t kill, it strengthens”. Yes, it does. Well…maybe hard work doesn’t kill, but stress can.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s bad to set targets for ourselves and work hard to achieve our goals. That is a very beautiful thing. I’m just saying that once in a while, we need to ease the tension and relax. Because in the end, we get to bear whatever happens (whether good or bad).

What happened to me some days ago is just an example of what I’m talking about. For like one-quarter of the day, I had headache. The bad part was even though my head was aching; I ignored it and continued what I was doing without even eating. I didn’t stop what I was doing until I got to my elastic limit and I knew I had to stop to rest a bit.

Taking this situation back to school, I remember it has happened at different times. The funny but true fact is that the courses I took so serious and got so worried about were the ones I ended up having poor marks in even though others had A’s.  

The bottom line is, in as much as we want to achieve some great things, we shouldn’t take things too hard on ourselves. We shouldn’t let our thirst for success cause us to lose our real selves. If we are not getting the results we want at the moment, we probably just need to take some time off, pray, reflect on these things and try to see the way forward.

I’m learning this and trying to always keep it at the back of my mind. I think you should too.