Spread Too Thin - The Disappearing Act

Spread Too Thin - The Disappearing Act

I KNEW I was spread too thin before my meltdown in the car. I had been fantasizing for months about taking a sabbatical because I knew in my heart that I was burned out. I knew I needed to spend time cocooning.

A few years before, I had learned about cocooning from my former pastor. I had adopted the process, leaving home every twelve months (for a period between a few days and a week) to read and study, rest, dream, and plan in order to hear God’s calling—and to be prepared to take action.

This time, because I was so burned out, I elected to take a monthlong recess from the office. While some might go to a spa or on a Caribbean vacation, I elected to stay home during this cocooning event to work on my three Rs: resting, renewal, and rededication. But I quickly realized I was rusty on all three! My first challenge: relearning to rest.

Resting. We’re not very good at this, are we? We get one hour at home, alone, and what do we do? Start busying ourselves in the name of productivity. Are we bored? Or could we actually fear time alone with our thoughts? Resting—quiet time—is an absolute requirement to renewing one’s mind, body, and soul, but I found myself in the first two weeks of my “holiday” keeping the same pace I had when I was heading into the office. It finally dawned on me, about eight days into this intermission, that I would need to plan my rest as I plan anything else that is important to me.

So, a question for you: when was the last time you had eight continuous hours of shut-eye? When cocooning, I am one of the chosen few who gets a full night’s rest, because I plan it. Are you burned out too? I feel safe in prescribing rest for you. Easy to say, hard to do. Yet I learned during my month of cocooning that our lack of sleep is less about available sleeping hours and more about our unwillingness to make sleep a priority.

Once rested, it’s amazing how our rewired minds can process information much more clearly. And it’s not just sleep that refreshes us. While cocooning, I also learned to rest from

people—my social calendar was closed;

problem solving—the focus was listening for God’s will for me, not trying to solve everyone else’s problems;

spending—shopping sprees are not part of the cocooning process.

Those who live in the shelter of the Most Highwill find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)

Are you spread too thin? Before you disappear for good, consider a few days of cocooning. And if you’re a mommy with kiddos still bouncing about the house, just hide in the closet for fifteen minutes. A break is a break.