The Tank is Empty

The Tank Is Empty

John Paul Derryberry

My wonderful wife told me I looked tired on Wednesday. I was not taken aback by this comment; we have been running hard as a family. I went to lie down for a minute just to catch my second wind for the night. Except, I didn't wake up till 7 a.m. the following day. Apparently, I needed 14 hours of sleep to recharge from life-- a great life filled with wonderful people, but I still have days where I crawl into bed and do not want to get back out. My tank was empty and needed to recharge

I bring this up to highlight what we are asking an increasing section of our population to achieve. Focus on work, school, and life, with fewer resources and barriers to participating in our free society, seem to be increasing. It's harder to vote, harder to find daycare, and harder to find professions with a high enough salary and an excellent work-life balance. Maybe too many folks are running with no fuel.

Even the clients we serve come to us with histories of over 25 programs, multiple inpatient settings, and countless attempts to get their life in order. Yet, there are those of us that expect that turn-around to occur at our pace, not the pace at which they are capable. If I was running on empty, what are other folks in society running run on? It's a rhetorical question because we know they are not really running and do not have the ability to refuel in any capacity.

It's something leaders and people in a healthy state need to consider. How do we make it easier, not harder, for others to not be running on empty? They will keep running nowhere good if we don't. Look, I know it's been said more elegantly than I have stated it here today. I know countless folks are working on solving the problem, myself being one of them. But, the reality is we continue to push a specific section of our population that is tired, stressed out, and running out of options and energy to keep up. Not all of us are lucky enough to sleep worry-free for 14 hours. And while some of that worry-free life I built myself, but not all of it. And for the parts that other people made that assist my life, I owe it to others to build a better community for them. Hopefully, if you have the means, you realize you also have a duty to make it better for other to refuel.