Are you a damaged human being? What are your ailments? Constant headaches, low energy, aches, pains, tense muscles, or are you nervous with cold and sweaty palms, walking around with clenched jaws, and grinding your teeth? Do you suffer heart palpitations, anxiety attacks, ulcers, and are known to have violent outbursts of anger? Do you have a mental health problem, eating disorders, or are you obese? Then, you might well be worn out by the demands of the world.

You might have a lack of appetite, hooked on alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes. Maybe you are pacing the floor, fidgeting at home, and work. You just can’t seem to settle down. Because of this behavior, you might be unable to marshal your thoughts, and focus at work. With such afflictions, you might also be afflicted with chronic diseases – diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic renal failure, or congested heart failure. These might all be symptoms that you are burnout, bored, emotionally overloaded, and unappreciated.

More signs showing that you are worn out with the world, are when you don’t sleep well at night, have no sexual desire, and fear going to work. This could all be because of the rat race you are a part of. Constantly popping pills, suffering from frequent colds and infections, you don’t seem able to keep away from the doctor’s office, because you’re so unrelentingly stressed.

Do you have a competitive spirit? That’s what the world taught you from childhood. “Be the best that you can. The sky is the limit.” You were coerced in joining the bandwagon of competitors. You’re now in overdrive, working 16 hours per day. Hooked on your technological devices – smart phones and laptop computers, you just can’t even find time, to read a book. Although being overweight, with bad eating habits, physical activities aren’t a part of you daily routine. You fail to take the warning from the quotation anthologist, Terri Guillemets (b. 1973) who says, “If your teeth are clenched and your fists are clenched, your lifespan is probably clenched.” So, now you are paying the price.

How can you be happy again?

It was the British philosopher, Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970) who observed, “One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” You’ve always felt this way. There’s a huge price to pay with trying to keep up with the Joneses. Your life is now in disarray. It’s time to slow down and smell the roses.

The first step is to continue seeing your doctor for treatment, take medications as prescribed, and follow his advice . It might be that you should be having counseling, but remember not to keep God, out of the picture. Pray to him. He’ll provide for your every need. You’ll find that knowing our Lord and Jesus Christ will profoundly bring to your life, peace, love, joy, and hope. It isn’t that you will no longer have problems, but with his spiritual grounding, he’ll defend you from bad experiences, you have been having.

It isn’t that you will not become ill, but through our Lord’s grace, you’ll be able to put matters in their proper perspective. It’s true, Christians do suffer. Some saints did so willingly, for redemptive purposes, but others have prayed for healing, and were healed. It’ll be important in your Christian walk to bring all things – good and bad, before the Lord. Then, your life will have the basics of purposeful= driven living. Bear in mind that we were never meant to be competitive by the way we live. All gifts in the Lord’s eyes are equal. Talents could be observed in every part of the body of Christ. An eye can’t say to a foot, “I’m more important than you.” We’re all important and talented in our own way. This is what you ‘ll discover in living successful lives.