Blog

09/08/2026: Pass the Salt

I need to get certain aspects of my life together with the little time I have this week, but here I am with a crabby attitude and brain fog that coffee is going to have a hard time combating today. I don’t understand how I can have the mental “want to,” yet my physical “give a damn” is out of fuel. No matter what, the latter seems to win out, and I feel slow and unproductive no matter what I do. 

I was so ready to put in the work yesterday, until the three-hour mark rolled around and I couldn’t convince myself to continue. Fast forward to today, and my goals are even loftier, my morale is already lower, and I’m full speed ahead on the downward slope, still waiting for my caffeine to kick in. 

I know it’s problematic to say I “need” to write—I should want to do things, no matter what those things are. But sometimes, I think the physical exhaustion gets in my head and tries to convince the part of me that really wants to do the things I love that it’s a chore, even though I know that’s not the case. 

The mind is a powerful thing, the keeper of sanity and madness, while the body is a great manipulator of the mind, in a constant cycle of productivity and burnout. It really is a tall order to want these two things to be harmonious at all times, when you stop to think about it . . . and yet, I wish for this every single day. 

Mind over physical matter, physical matter over mind, it’s a battle all the time. Material versus immaterial, external versus internal. I strive to find the balance between these things in every waking hour of my life, sifting through the mess of the day to get to the heart of what matters most. There are always unexpected roadblocks, and there are always surprise concerns and frustrations, that much is true. But I have to remind myself that not everything is in my control. 

Some worries are not for me to have, and sometimes they aren’t even between me and the source of the conflict. Today is definitely a lesson in patience, as well as understanding of that old saying about leading a horse to water. But what about the other part that says “. . . you can feed a horse salt and make him thirsty”? Am I supposed to be that motivating factor, or am I supposed to wait for someone else to assume that role? Even with the added insight, there are limitations to what I can do. 

So I’ll do my best to make the most of the things I can actually control as I try to wrap my head around the rest that I can’t change.

***Quote credit: John C. Maxwell, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently