Knowing your limits
- At December 28, 2010
- By Nathan
- In Career Planning
- 0
Pushing yourself to fulfill your potential is all fine and good as long as you don’t pass out in the process. A career, or even the career searching process, can drain you dry if you let it. Keep in mind that you are a only a human being: you have limits just like everybody else.
Winston Churchill used to stay in bed late into the morning during the war, managing the British war effort from a position of repose. George Bush is famous for going to bed early during his entire presidency. Billy Graham once said that if he had do it all over again he would have preached fewer sermons.
Meanwhile, you may have worked yourself to the point of exhaustion, and pushed yourself – or let yourself be pushed – to the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Planting trees in the mountains of British Columbia was my standard summer job while going to college. I found it to be physically and relationally demanding. During this season of life total exhaustion forced me to face my limits on more than one occasion.
But one particularly refreshing day off stands out in my mind. I spent an entire afternoon by myself in the forest, paying close attention to the created world around me. The highlight of this time was when a large porcupine waddled right up to where I was quietly sitting, completely unaware of my presence.
Have you ever looked closely at a porcupine’s face for a long period of time? Have you recently done anything completely unproductive that you enjoy?
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