Jane writes:
Oh how very real this seems sometimes. Just a song title describing exactly what’s going on inside your head. I came across it on one of those walks with the earphones planted firmly in my ears providing the perfect chance to discover new music amidst old favourites.
This is a song that comes with both a fabulously distinctive voice, spare sound and a certain kind of lament. Then it does the thing I love most. Builds and builds and builds. It’s a song aware of its own shape and style which brings a
desire not to lose it in the multitude of choices provided by modern-day music listening.
I’ve been tired since 1994.
I don’t feel like this all the time of course but there are some days when you feel that there’s a relentlessness to life, the universe and everything, and with good reason. I suspect too that for some people life is a treadmill and that there is no possibility for proper respite.
The pace of working life caused by the gig economy and the desire for 24/7 retail and service. The need to be up when the rest of the world is awake. The unseen carers holding down jobs and looking after loved ones so they can sleep but unable then to get any rest themselves. The support services in hospitals, care homes and other “round the clock” care providers. It’s a list that you could probably extend yourself.
I can’t remember how it feels to be bored.
I’m still dancing with pressure and fear.
And made from myself,
There’s nothing I wish but to disappear.
The lyricist suggests that sometimes the anxiety and the pressure is of their own making. Maybe even their own choosing. Whatever is going on for them is, in their view, turning them into a faded flower and they’ve had enough.
I’m starting to fade away,
I’m too young to fade away,
No I just can’t fade away !
Research says that the good old “me time” is of increasing value and that the importance of finding some way to exploit what gives you life is the key to improved mental and physical health. Burnout is now a word we hear in
many more professions and our communities of faith are no different.
In fact, Sanctuary Mental Health says that “One in four people will be affected by a mental health challenge at some point in their lives, yet the stigma surrounding these experiences often prevents faith communities from responding compassionately and effectively.”
In the stories that humankind shared about their origins, there is one that tells of a set of guidelines for life. Christians know it as the Ten Commandments and among them there is one that says this:
“8-11 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don’t do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day”
Finding time to value yourself, those you love and keeping at least one day precious is a story as old as time. It seems that it’s not easy and for people of faith it gets tangled with their duty towards church attendance but God sees how critical it is to rest. To keep something holy. Kadosh. Kodesh. Set apart for a specific purpose.
The world does too. So whether it’s the weekend or a random half day somewhere let these words from Last Train inspire you to release the pressure – or help someone else to – and take the rest option. Walk up a hill, paint a
picture, read a book, dance with a loved one, or sit silently. The choices are yours.
You can find out more about Last Train here https://www.lasttrain.fr/home/
And Sanctuary Mental Health here https://sanctuarymentalhealth.org/uk/#
The Friday Fix 