I am one of those people…

You know- the kind of people of which would be said, “Oh him, he just doesn’t sit still very well.”

I don’t really know at what point in my life I convinced myself that every moment had to be productive, but I suspect that it was somewhere around the time that school work started ramping up in high school.

This may come as a shock to some…

But school work never came easy to me.  I am not sure what I would be diagnosed with, and it really doesn’t matter, but it always seemed like I needed to put in twice the effort to get the same result as my classmates.  College was fertile ground for this type of behavior and I found myself either studying, going to class, or it was Thursday night.  Let’s just leave it at that and you can read into it however you want.  Hey, a guy’s got to take a break every once in awhile, right?

The productivity hamster wheel continued into dental school as the classes were very challenging.  I am thankful for the grace of the fabulous Amy Recker, who often got left behind in the craziness of my striving and chasing.

And I would like to say it got better after college, but alas, no.  I had work. And it fit me well.  I could crank and crank and come in early and stay late and on the weekends find other things to keep me crazy busy.

And then I found triathlon.  I was drawn to triathlon.  I could push and push and push.  I was either training, working, or trying to be a dad and husband.

This is where I found the law of diminishing returns and the beauty of rest.  When you are 105% on all of the time, you hit the point of diminishing returns.  There is a point on the curve where you aren’t helping yourself out anymore and you are running yourself into the ground.

This is different for everyone, but I think you understand where I am going.  You can’t always find more in the tank.  Sure, you probably can in your college days and maybe your twenties, but it catches up with you.

So I have learned about myself that I need rest.  Time can’t all be productive.  Especially Sunday.  I need a Sabbath.  I need some rest time.  Time to recharge my batteries.  Time to spend time in quiet.  Not measuring anything.  Finding what allows you to refresh and spending some time there.

The law of diminishing returns is a real thing…

When we bump up against it, or better yet, before we get there, let’s choose to #WINtheNOW for ourselves and others by resting and helping our body and mind be fresh.

I am finally learning, at 45, that’s it’s ok to rest.  Not everything needs to count.

And thank you to all who helped in the post this week!  You can look forward to a special mid-week blog!  This is a subject we can’t cover in one post!