Like shadows that stick with us and lengthen at sunset, tiredness and exhaustion, stress, toxicity, fatigue, lethargy and plain weariness are increasingly our unavoidable companions everyday.

The present pace of life and the kind of challenges and pressures we face these days make sure they are a mainstream reality. And here, we are not talking only of physical tiredness. That's the lowest form and the least dangerous kind.

We worry more of the more complex types: emotional exhaustion, mental or psychological stress, spiritual and even moral fatigue.

It's good that we be more aware of these variations, since most often when we complain about tiredness, we think only of physical tiredness when in fact what is happening is far worse than that.

Thus, with a wrong diagnosis, we make a wrong prescription.

Emotional exhaustion is when you cease to feel, or when your feelings go wild and haywire. This is when you are vulnerable to mood swings, become easily irritable and can go to completely irrational and even violent behavior.

Mental or psychological tiredness is when you don't like to think anymore. Thinking is what distinguishes us from other animals. Imagine if what's supposed to lead the way for us is incapacitated!

Stress is when you seem continuously moving. Unable to rest, you always feel stretched and burned out.

Spiritual lethargy is when you lack the energy to pray and you don't understand why you have to make sacrifices. You start doubting about God's existence and goodness.

It's tiredness at a scarier level.

Moral fatigue is when you start saying you are tired of doing good and you like to do evil instead. That is, when committing sin appears attractive, when you lose the sense of shame in pursuing it.

For sure, a variety of means can offer relief to these kinds of tiredness. You can take a nap, sleep, travel, go to excursion, exercise and do sports, read books, watch TV, hear music or sing, visit friends, do gardening or hobbies, etc.

But we have to remember that in all these ways of relieving tiredness, God has to be present. It would be wrong to seek rest without God, since true rest can only come from God and with God.

Let's never forget: "Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you and learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls." (Mt 11,28-29)

Resting in whatever form, and praying, going to Mass and confession should always go together. Otherwise, we'd just be deceiving ourselves, creating a false sense of wellness drawing subtler evils to enter our heart.

Tiredness can be a sign of strength and a golden opportunity to get very close to our Lord. St. Paul said so: "For when I am weak, then am I strong." (2 Cor 12,10)
It can also be our Calvary with which our day should end, mirroring the way Christ culminated his mission on earth. Thus, it's good to meditate often on Christ's passion and death to savor the spiritual richness of tiredness.

We should not be afraid of tiredness or any form of weakness. We should rather welcome it, and make it an occasion to feel God's saving presence in us.

This is no pious fantasy. Saints have left us with moving testimonials of this amazing truth. All forms of tiredness and weakness were for them a getting closer to Christ, who resurrected after suffering the most painful humiliations and the most inglorious death.

With God's grace and our quiet efforts to accept what befalls us, always hoping and praying, we can manage to be above our physical tiredness, emotional exhaustion, our mental or psychological weariness, even our spiritual and moral fatigue.

When we allow God to take over us, the old become new, the wounds get healed, our tiredness gives way to renewed vigor, even death leads to life. God has mysterious ways far beyond what we can do to restore us.

On the human level, we just have to learn to take it easy, to be game, to just be calm and keep steady focus on our Lord on the Cross. Let's learn the art of suffering quietly.

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Fr. Roy Cimagala is the Chaplain of Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE) in Talamban, Cebu City. You can email him at:Email: roycimagala@boholchronicle.com