The Proof in the Struggle
Not long ago, I witnessed a conversation that stayed with me. One person was offering encouragement—a pep talk, full of energy and optimism. The words were good, even inspiring. But as I watched the other person receiving them, I could see the message wasn’t landing.
They nodded. They responded with polite acknowledgments. But their eyes betrayed them—the encouragement was falling on deaf ears. They were simply not in a place to shift their mindset.
It made me reflect on how often we try to do the same thing with ourselves. We give the rally speech, the pep talk, the determined push to “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.” Yet in the deepest places of exhaustion, grief, or overwhelm, our hearts do not follow. Willpower alone cannot create authenticity.
A Personal Reckoning
Not long ago, I caught myself saying, “I’m tired of being tired. I’m tired of always saying it.”
It was not a passing complaint but an honest confession—an expression of how weary I felt with the pace of life, the responsibilities of motherhood, and the endless juggling act.
The response I received was practical: advice on sleep, self-care, balance. All valuable, but at that moment, they felt like more tasks on an already overflowing list. Then another voice chimed in: “Isn’t it great to be busy in a good way?”
And suddenly, I realized something. Perhaps the answer was not to eliminate the negative but to reinterpret it. Often when we feel these harder things in life we strive to eradicate it and look at it as if it isn’t our actual reality.
Reframing Exhaustion as a Gift
Could I see being tired differently? At first, the thought seemed absurd. How could weariness be a gift?
But then I considered the alternative. What does it mean if I am never tired? Does it mean I have not given fully of myself? That I have held back? That I have cut corners and reserved energy for later instead of laying it all down today?
Maybe exhaustion is not a curse but a kind of evidence. Proof that I have shown up. Proof that I have poured out effort, love, energy, and presence. Proof that I have lived and living fully.
And if that is true, then perhaps I do not need to label tiredness as “negative” or force it into the category of “positive.” Instead, I can receive it as a marker of devotion and effort.
The Deeper Question
What if the struggles we try so desperately to eliminate are not obstacles to be erased, but evidence of the life we are living?
What if the exhaustion, the challenge, the weight of responsibility, are not failures of strength, but signs of our deep engagement with the world?
I wonder—what in your life feels like a burden right now? What hardship are you trying to will away with sheer determination, yet deep down you don’t believe you can? What if, instead of striving to erase it, you reframe it?
Because the truth is this: to be entirely free of exhaustion, struggle, or burden is to no longer be alive. Physically, spiritually, emotionally—life requires effort. And effort requires energy spent.
The invitation, then, is not to escape the struggle but to honor it. To see it as proof. To give yourself credit for showing up and spending yourself fully. And being ok with not having to erase the evidence with lies that you are not feeling certain things when you really are.
Maybe the exhaustion you feel today is not your enemy. Maybe it is your witness.
Creating Exceptional 