A friend and I were joking around, complaining about classes and how tired we were last week. Nothing unusual, just encouraging each other to get off Pinterest and go do the online quizzes we’d been putting off for hours; catching up on the latest news about friends; complaining about how tired we were; how utterly exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally we were.
I made the comment: “I’m so tired, I don’t even feel human anymore.”
And that’s been haunting me.
I told someone about it, and they jokingly shared with me Proverbs 20:13, “Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.”
And while both sleep and carbohydrate consumption is very important to me, I don’t think oversleeping is what the problem is. In fact, for weeks I haven’t slept well. I can’t remember the last time I slept completely through the night.
I’ve complained about it, researched reasons, tried different ways of winding down before bed--and nothing has helped. Apparently there’s no cure for the stress of finals looming ever nearer, packing up a dorm room, planning out summer classes and trying to nail down that elusive summer job.
And this isn’t unique to me.
The search for sleep is something every college student agonizes over. We survive off caffeine, carbs, and Netflix. It’s even a bragging right. “Dude, I slept three hours last night.” “Yeah, I’ve slept two hours in the past three days!”
(Old lady moment: No, children. Please don’t do that. Humans need sleep to survive. There is a point where sleeping is better for you than studying, no matter what your Monster-fueled mental fog says.)
Exhaustion comes as result of things other than lack of sleep. Stressful situations, broken relationships, drama, working long shifts, writing multiple papers every week, and constantly being “all there” is what has worn on me most this semester. I have friends writing 20 page biology research papers, people studying for Communications Law tests, roommates doing hundreds of math problems a day. We’re students. We’re inundated with everything all at once all the time.
It’s worn on all of us. It’s been an entire school year of not being able to escape the dishwasher that leaves pieces of broccoli on spoons and the roommates that accuse you of stealing towels. (Anyone else? Anyone? OK, just me.)
Yet Psalm 116:7 says, “Return O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.”
Our rest is found in Christ. No, that doesn’t mean that prayer magically removes a need for sleep (as amazing as that would be). But it does mean that we need to be careful where our priorities lie. If we forget that we’re supposed to find rest and encouragement in the Lord, if we start seeking rest in sleep, rest in melatonin, rest in Benadryl, rest in avoiding people, rest in talking with certain people--we have allowed ourselves to be pulled away from fully trusting Christ.
And when we get tired to the point “we don’t even feel human anymore”, we are giving ourselves an excuse for not living completely at our full potential. Our tiredness blurs our vision and slows our responses, and it also can blur our spiritual vision in seeing opportunities to share the Gospel and Christ’s love.
So here’s some advice: go to the caf and pick up an apple. Take it outside or sit near window. Put your phone away, your laptop away. Eat the apple and look outside and marvel at God’s creation. He know the number of blades of grass on the earth, the number of hairs on your head and He definitely knows the number of finals you have. He knows when every sparrow falls to the ground, and still says, “Are you not of more value than they?” Then finish that apple and go study hard. Call your mom. Encourage a friend. Don't physically or mentally harm your roommate.
Don't let the exhaustion of finals suck away your humanity.
1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxieties on the Lord because he cares for you.”
Teach your soul to find rest in Christ alone. Yes, of course, relaxation is found at the beach, and caffeine keeps us functioning. But a peaceful heart is found in Jesus Christ alone. No other rest is as sweet and as fulfilling.
(Y’all try to get some sleep and remember happy hour at Sonic)
