“What have I even accomplished today?”
Have you ever caught yourself asking that question at the end of the workday? Sometimes it is hard to point to anything specific that you can check off the list. When the flood of work just keeps pouring down, it can be difficult to feel like you are making any kind of headway.
There are days when the Karidat office phone hardly stops ringing and the piles of paperwork are not even touched, as we scramble to answer the questions or meet the needs of those who are (literally) lining up outside the door, or on the phone lines. It is hard work to try to keep up with it all.
Last week I had to marvel at the reasoning of someone I met who confessed that he was afraid that if he went outdoors to work, it would make him “tired.” I wanted to point out that even if he did nothing but sit around all day in a chair, he would still end up tired and eventually need to sleep! In fact, it might be that we humans actually become even more tired when we get into the habit of moving around, or working less. Think of how many people swear by the energizing effects of regular exercise and fresh air.
And having work to do that is meaningful should not be underestimated, because that is a necessary ingredient to energizing the mind, and the soul.
The Holy Father made a comment about “tiredness” recently. It was printed in the North Star last week, a particular phrase that caught my eye probably because I was still thinking over that man’s misguided method of conserving energy.
The Pope had been talking about finding meaning in our lives, while resisting the temptation to invest only in the pursuit of one’s own happiness solely through the accumulation of material possessions. Then he said:
Voracious greed is never satisfied—the more one has, the more one wants and “that is a terrible thirst.” Instead, “it’s wonderful to help others, serve others,” he said, because though it may be tiring, “the heart fills with joy and hope.”
This is a topic that the Holy Father cannot seem to emphasize enough: it is a dead end road to invest only in yourself, or in things. You will never find fulfillment if you travel in that direction. It just won’t happen, and you will have wasted all of that time, and all of that energy.
His conclusion: it is better to be tired every day from having invested in doing good, from working for justice and helping to care for others—much better than to have to end your day, or your life, wondering, “Did I even do anything worthwhile? What have I even accomplished?”
