"I can't do this," I said aloud, alone in the privacy of my room.
I was sitting in a sea of paperwork, scrolling through unanswered text messages, and glancing at unfinished tasks from weeks ago on my to-do list.
I was behind on everything.
And, I mean, everything.
Blog post deadlines. Marketing tasks. Emails. Dates to meet people. Projects for clients. You name it. And, after staying up late chasing my tail—trying to see over the work that has piled up above my eyeballs—I grew exhausted, overwhelmed, and while I had to admit this, downright irritated.
There was just too much to do, and I just...
couldn't do it.
And, I thought that opening up about it would cause the closest people in my life to say:
"Yes, you can! You're a child of God!"
"Philippians 4:13!"
"You can do ALL THINGS through Christ!"
But—
they didn't.
Instead, when I told them what I told myself that night alone in my room—I can't do it!—they responded with the words I know Holy Spirit was ultimately saying all along:
"No, you can't."
Which caused me to take an honest look at exactly what I couldn't do.
It was clear the moment I opened up my planner.
Let's just say that I was trying to get a month of work done in the span of one week—all the while scheduling dinner dates, extracurriculars, committing to side gigs, and working two part-time jobs. Not to mention, I was staying up late, missing my alarm in the morning, and worst of all, I was abandoning my Sabbath.
The perfect ingredients for the bitter workaholic I was starting to become.
So, the line of people in my life—starting with the Holy Spirit—telling me I couldn't do it were not trying to discourage me.
No. They were telling me the truth.
And, in the same way they told me the truth, I want to spend the majority of today's blog telling you the truth as well. For those of you who are overwhelmed, over-worked, exhausted, and if you're honest, a little bitter about it too:
You can't do it.
You can't fit a week worth of work into the span of twenty-four hours.
You can't commit to two different events happening at the same time and expect for it to magically work out.
You can't stay up at 2 AM every day catching up on your tasks and think that only four hours of sleep is going to sustain you the next day.
No, sir! No, ma'am.
You just can't do it.
But, you know what you can do?
Prioritize. Separate the important from the unimportant. Plan accordingly.
Ask yourself hard questions. Get help from a leader. No one is saying you don't have a lot of things to do. But, what we are saying is that you also have a lot of things you don't need to do.
As the saying goes—
You can do anything, but you can't do everything.
And, whatever those "things" are, you have to ensure that there's someone on the other side of it—someone who brings ultimate purpose to all of your "things," someone who makes everything on your to-do list count.
This Someone's Name is Jesus. And, if there's anybody who knows all of your things, it's Him.
So, do what He commands us to do in Matthew 6—seek first His kingdom. And, all of the "things" we need to get done, all of the "things" we worry about, He will turn it around and make all of those "things" work out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Therefore, if you're looking for where to begin when it comes to prioritizing, start by seeking Him first, live righteously, and God will give you everything you need.