The Weight of the World.

                      I would shrug my shoulders, but the weight of the world rests there
                                         and I am afraid it would cause a catastrophe.
                                                                                                                                 ~J.Manning
Do you ever feel like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, and that one wrong move will tip the balancing act and all come crashing down. Do you sometimes wish you could set the weight down and rest a bit or let someone else carry it for awhile? But you continue on, in hopes that with each step, the load will lessen a bit. In reality though, it never really seems to lessen, in fact more and more seems to get added to it, until you are not sure if you can even stand, let alone walk with it any more. But somehow you do, you find the strength you need, from some part of you that even you didn't know existed until you needed it. It amazes me the strength that one can find even when so exhausted, so stressed that it seems impossible to continue on. But you do, really what other option is there? Give up? Not in my world. 

Sometimes in life, we get bogged down, we get tired. So many things seem to come at once and we have to shoulder it. Shoulder it, work through it and try not to collapse. Sometimes it is hard to see an end in sight,  so heavy the load. At some point enough has to be enough, right? There has to be a stretch of time where everything magically goes right, everything fits into place and the world revolves without us having to do anything, but be.  As I sit here writing this, in a few stolen moments in my day, I sigh. Just the thought of a stretch of time, with no stress, no drama, nothing to handle, deal with or get through, makes me smile. Well smile and shake my head knowing a day dream when I see it. Or maybe not. Maybe there is a way, to once in a while, set the load down, catch your breathe and just be. There has to be a way to get life to leave you alone for awhile, to decompress, to put your own head and thoughts in order. There has to, because how else can you help everyone else, if you can't help yourself? If you are so drained, so emotionally exhausted, so stressed, how are you supposed to keep putting that aside, day after day to handle everything for everyone else? You do, months on end, even years until that one day that suddenly arrives when you just can't shoulder that load any more. You have to put it down for awhile, or else it will crush you. It is not weakness, it is the epitome of true strength. 

We all have got to realize that we are human. We may climb the mountains, we may move them out of our way, we may play the hero, but we are human. We cannot be expected to handle everything all of the time without some break. We have got to learn, teach ourselves, to set the load down once and awhile and focus on ourselves. We have got to hold a hand up and say stop. Stop the drama, stop the stress, stop going around in circles about problems that really just never get solved and move on. Life is too short. If we don't look up once in awhile we will miss it, we will miss it while we are fixing everything and anything, but ourselves. 

I wish for you strength to continue on, and the knowledge that while it is hard now, over time you will lose that weight on your shoulders and be free. Just remember, you are strong enough, smart enough, tough enough. And know, that setting that load down for awhile, to catch your breath, is not weakness. It is a sign that you value yourself enough to rest for awhile. It is a sign of true strength. The world will not shift off its axis, the sky will not come falling down, I promise.     It will be there to pick back up when you are ready, but only when you are ready. One foot in front of the other, one day at a time. Pieces will eventually fall into place and your hard work, your perseverance will pay off. You will be free and you will be ready to take on the world. 

Deep Breath, you got this.