Long Week and the Need for a Vacation: Weekly post

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One response to “Long Week and the Need for a Vacation: Weekly post”

1. 

   August 31, 2026

   shaun tenzenmen

   It is coincidence that I read this this morning and reminded me of your line about thinking that it will be a long week ahead.

   Life puts many responsibilities on us. It can feel
   overwhelming. If we carry all of our responsibilities in a
   single moment, this is what leads to worry, overwhelm, and
   stress. When we look at the day ahead, we only see how much
   we have yet to do. Imagine two people waking on the very
   same morning, each with an equally full day ahead of them.
   The first opens his eyes and immediately sees the whole
   mountain of the day laid out before him. The messages
   waiting to be answered, the errands still undone, the meeting
   he is dreading, the dishes left in the sink from the night
   before. All of it arrives at once, pressing down on him before
   his feet have even touched the floor. The weight of it is so
   heavy that it becomes far easier to simply close his eyes and
   remain beneath the covers a little longer.

   The second wakes and thinks of only one thing: placing his
   feet upon the floor. Once this is done, he thinks only of
   rising from the bed. Once he is standing, he thinks only of
   dressing himself. Once dressed, he thinks only of brushing
   his teeth. Then only of preparing his breakfast. Then only of
   walking out the door. He does not carry tomorrow’s tasks,
   nor even the afternoon’s. He carries only the single stone in
   front of him. By evening, both have lived through the very
   same day. Yet the first has been crushed beneath its weight
   since the moment he woke, while the second has simply
   moved, stone by stone, until the mountain was gone.
   This one truth must be grasped. We are not overwhelmed or
   worried by the amount of responsibilities placed on us. We
   overwhelm ourselves by carrying all of them at once.

   The only thing that demands our attention is what is in front
   of us, right now. Do not carry the world on your shoulders
   from your bedroom. Do not try to place the whole mountain
   on your back. Focus solely on the stone that is in front of
   you. Pick it up, set it down, and then carry the next. The
   mountain will vanish, as will your worries and stress.

   I have to constantly remind myself about these things…

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