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Light In The Dark: When You're Too Tired To Feel · Unlocking The Paradigm Portal

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  Hi, it's Sarah. So if tonight feels heavy in a
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  different way, maybe not sharp or frantic, but just deeply
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  tired, I'm here with you. And I'll sit here in the dark
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  and hold up a Lantern. Just enough light to help you
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  see the next few steps. This is light in the dark, a few
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  quiet minutes for when the world goes still but the inside
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  doesn't. So emotional exhaustion.
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  It doesn't always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like staring
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  at the ceiling because even scrolling feels like too much.
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  And sometimes it can be that answering messages with one word
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  replies because you just don't have the energy to explain
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  anything deeper. And sometimes it's feeling
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  nothing at all and wondering if something inside you is broken.
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  But I'm here to remind you nothing is broken.
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  This is just what happens when a heart and a nervous system have
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  been carrying too much for too long and it feels heavy.
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  Imagine you have a battery that's been running on low power
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  for days. It's not dead, it's just dim,
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  and you keep watching the numbers drop down and down as
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  the battery runs lower and lower.
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  The light's still on, but it's softer.
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  There's less power to it. Everything is functioning, but
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  it's functioning slower. You don't recharge a battery by
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  demanding that it works harder. You recharge it by letting it
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  rest. And tonight doesn't need to be
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  about productivity. It doesn't need perspective.
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  It doesn't need you to turn this into a lesson.
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  If all you did today was survive something invisible, that
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  counts, because emotional exhaustion comes after caring
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  deeply for a long time without enough space to refill.
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  It comes from holding things together and being strong when
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  you didn't want to and staying steady for other people while
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  you're probably quietly unraveling inside.
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  And no one sees the weight of that while it's happening but
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  you. You feel it, but your body keeps
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  the score of every ounce of energy that you expended.
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  And if you feel numb tonight, that's not a failure.
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  It's like a protective dimmer switch trying to remind you that
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  your battery needs to be recharged and your system keeps
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  lowering the volume so that you don't burn out completely.
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  And there's nothing you need to process right now.
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  There's nothing you need to push through.
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  There's nothing you need to understand before you're allowed
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  to rest. So now imagine just setting that
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  weight down beside you for a moment, not solving it, not
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  organizing it, not making sense of anything, just placing it on
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  the ground and letting your arms hang loose at your sides.
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  And notice how that quiet feels. You don't have to pick it back
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  up until you choose to. And tonight you don't have to
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  choose anything. So if tears come, let them.
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  And if they don't, that's OK too.
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  Crying isn't the only way exhaustion releases.
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  And sometimes the most honest thing that you can feel is
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  emptiness. And emptiness isn't avoid its
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  space. And it might feel scary.
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  It might feel like you need to grip on to something.
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  And that's why I'm sitting here with you to say you're safe and
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  it's OK. Because space.
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  Space is where something new can eventually return, and space is
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  where new things can grow. And right now, nothing needs to
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  fill it. So if sleep comes, let it come
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  gently. And if it doesn't, let your body
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  rest anyways. So close your eyes, unclench
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  your jaw, maybe let your shoulders drop a little bit.
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  Because even this just lying here breathing is repair
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  happening in real time. It's choosing you over the
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  weight, and that is the most important thing that you can do.
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  So we're going to pause here for tonight.
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  And now I'll leave the Lantern beside you, as I do every time,
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  not to light the whole path, but just to remind you you're not
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  walking it alone. And you don't have to be strong
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  right now, and you don't have to be OK right now.
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  You just have to exist until the energy slowly returns.
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  So rest if you can, and if not, just stay here in the quiet and
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  I'll be here when you come back.