Oh Snap!

Broken tree limbs and trunks are a common sight around our neighborhood thanks to that wicked ice and snow blizzard back in February. It's the perfect illustration of what happens when something can only bear so much weight before it snaps.

Humans are the same.

How much weight are you carrying on your shoulders right now? Are you about to snap?

Notice the inside of these trees look perfectly healthy. But they couldn't handle it. Sometimes we can't either. Why do we think that we are super human?

Just like snow falls slowly, our burdens often build up gradually before we start to feel the stress on our "limbs" – at about the time it's too late. Can we prevent this from happening? Sometimes. A lot of stressors are out of our control. But not all of them.

It's taken some 50 years of wisdom to build up for me to realize that some of the "weight" I've been carrying on my shoulders is due to a simple three-letter word: YES. Ironic that NO is an even shorter word, but harder for me to say. I'm getting there.

Tomorrow, for example, I get to pass a torch (and a very hefty binder) to a committee that gradually built up stress over the past six years. I did my two terms and will happily allow someone else to carry it forward. As usual, it "didn't seem like a big deal" when I said "yes" all those years ago. But things don't always turn out that way.

That committee assignment was just one example. I had a very time-consuming freelance client that I recently had to do away with. My free time is far more valuable to me these days. I've worked long and hard to deserve nothing-weighing-on-me free time. That's why I am so grateful to make gradual (very gradual) progress on my de-cluttering. It didn't happen overnight. But baby steps are easing that weight on my limbs. I'll get there eventually. I will!

Today I'm praying hard for a loved one who is so overwhelmed, she is about to snap. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the option to say "no" as often as she'd like. Just praying her limbs hold up until some of the stress melts.

How about you? What's weighing you down these days? Take a close look to see how many snowflakes are quietly landing on your branches. Can you brush some off before they start accumulating?

Try it. It feels so good.