Blog 2671 – 11.12.2022

When The Load Gets Too Heavy…

Our bodies can take a beating and keep on ticking like the old Timex watch commercials used to say, but long before the body gives out the mind needs a respite from the stress and strain. Sometimes all it takes is a little distraction and we are recharged.

I read a pamphlet some years ago entitled The Tyranny Of The Urgent. Stress is the great caustic that destroys the immune system and leaves us open and unprotected, susceptible, to any number of ailments and diseases, the most prominent and debilitating diseases being those of the mind, the soul.

In our mad dash to acquire security and riches we often forfeit true wealth by not considering what the song says, “I’m richer by far with a satisfied mind.” What shall it profit a man or a woman in achieving security, wealth or power if it costs us our mind, our soul? That is such a poor bargain or trade-off.

I recall as a young man that on one of my first jobs, sacking groceries, at a supermarket, I was all stressed out and irritating in my mind that the other slackers seemed to hang back and only step up to sack the groceries of the customers they knew to be big tippers leaving me to do most of the sacking jobs on my own.

As I walked to the back of the produce department to get a drink at the water fountain an old retired gentleman who sacked groceries a few hours on a couple of evenings saw me and offered a pearl of wisdom. He said, “Son, if the load gets too heavy, just put it down.” I knew immediately what he meant. He was not telling me to quit working as hard, or to quit my job, but to change my mind. The unbearable burden I was carrying was not mine to carry. How others did their job was not my responsibility. Work became fun again and because I sacked more groceries than most of the other guys my tips were always on par with theirs anyway, but even if they had not been, a relieved and unburdened mind was priceless.

Remember the sage advice that I first heard at fifteen from a man in his sixties, “If the load gets to heavy, just put it down.” Pick a favorite memory and always have it at the ready to take a short but needed vacation in your mind when it is sore pressed. You’ll soon find yourself smiling more and stressing less with far less need to vent your frustration on others.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zRodvt6wJfGiPuNEWrgHBGf7J30Pv_X1/view?usp=drivesdk

How Does A Moment Last Forever