When Existing is Tiring

This life don tire me..I am TIYAD (Both of these Nigerian Pidgin phrases convey a high level state of exhaustion).

There are moments when the world takes on an overwhelming role, leaving us tired and disheartened. From global events (I am sure your news and social media feeds have been bringing Palestinian and Israeli conflict to focus for a while now) to personal struggles, the relentless barrage of life things can be emotionally exhausting. I often relate my experience of tiredness to having too many things on the go at once.

Every facet of life and role we play (work, school, being a partner, a parent, a business owner, a sister, and so on) that entails life or life-ing can be tiring at different times. I am so quick to tell my friends and family to lean into rest, take time to recharge, and practice self-care. Yet, I am here thinking to myself, why do I feel so tired even when I am leaning things that constitute care for self (at least for the most part, I think)?

The truth is that I am tired because…

existing in our world today is tiring.

The state of the tiredness brings to mind for me how we humans think about resilience.

Resilience is not just about bouncing back but also about adaptation, growth, and transformation. In essence, resilience is not just a return to the status quo; it is about coming up against the things that constantly want to knock you down. We celebrate resilience, but it is also important to recognize our problematic thoughts and actions as humans that call for us to be resilient.

So... 

Sometimes, maybe we are not just tired from "life-ing" but…

Because existing in the world we have set up for ourselves as humans today always demands and requires us to be resilient even when…

we just simply cannot be because of the negative experiences we are surrounded with.

we really do not have it in us to be.

the world seems against us and we are busy trying to simply stay alive.

My heart goes out to people fighting to stay alive in every way possible. ❤️