“I believe the most vital ingredient of resilience is faith.” ~ Dr. Friedrich Flach

Are you feeling emotionally depleted?

Maybe you’re tired of bad news, discouraged, and feel yourself slipping. Most days you can handle change, but lately it’s downright irritating. Sure, you’re “hanging in there,” but it’s harder to bounce back from disappointment. You’re frazzled and defensive. What others perceive as restlessness in you has morphed into full blown anxiety, but you don’t know why.

Emotional overload is not peculiar to writers; it’s universal. But writers, out of necessity, tend to isolate to get their work done, making them vulnerable to wipe-out. Like everyone else, we have personal lives and responsibilities besides writing. Yet none of us have unlimited reserves. Crazy as it is, we often forge ahead, ignoring our own needs. A collapsing spirit needs to watch for emotional leeches:

* unresolved conflict
* fractured or absent relationships
* negativity and grumbling
* packed and burdensome schedules
* overcommitment; inability to say no
* exhaustion that won’t go away
* lack of supportive, understanding friends
* prayerlessness & lack of worship
* constant noise - lack of solitude
* keeping up with the Jones’
* technological overload - TV, radio, internet
* junk food and/or sedentary living
* unhealthy relationship boundaries
* demanding, critical people
* anger, resentment, envy
* poor or unrefreshing sleep

The list goes on. I promised some ways to combat these emotional leeches, and tomorrow we’ll look at that more closely - this post is long enough. Remember, we can’t eliminate stress but we can certainly learn to take better care of ourselves as we assess our needs. Next post: ways to deal with overload and leeches.