Sometimes exhaustion arrives quietly

This morning I was sitting at my desk doing some work, and my niece walked in. She walked across the room and sat on my bed.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I’m tired.”

“Aren’t we all?”

We laughed. She leaned back.

“Stretch out,” I said, still laughing.

She shook her head. “I’ll be ok. I have work later.”

I turned around to complete what I had started.

She laid across the bed, and by the time I finished typing my last sentence, she was snoring.

Funny, but true. She didn’t realize just how tired she was. She slept almost an hour before I woke her up for work.

Sometimes we don’t realize how tired we are until things finally get quiet. The same thing happened when I tried to read in bed. I was lost in the adventure, and the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes, and the book was staring at me.

Here’s what I noticed. Over time, we become the person who manages, comforts, responds, and keeps moving forward even when we ourselves are tired.

From the outside, it can look like strength.

Honestly, it is, but sometimes strength also carries a quiet kind of exhaustion that few people fully see.

It almost feels normal to be tired, and slowing down is the thing that feels strange.

Why?

Because quiet reveals what a busy life hides.

Maybe that’s why quiet feels so unfamiliar. It asks us to notice what busyness helps us ignore.

— J. Lashelle

If this reflection spoke to you, there is more to explore.