Powerful Sorcerers hoarding priceless jewels in towers that pierce the sky; Wise Mages, clad in the finest gold, serving as right-hand advisors to the king; Planes-walking Pathfinders leading a tribe from the highest seat;
Yeah, we don\’t live in that world. The arcane arts don\’t exactly pay the bills. We gotta have a day job if we want to make ends meet. And in this economy we might need a side hustle or two also. After working all week to provide for yourself and your family, there\’s never really much time or energy left for practicing your craft. Sometimes it gets pushed to the back burner and sometimes you might even start feeling that connection weaken over time.
It\’s important to budget financially, especially during these difficult times, but I\’m not here to talk about balancing your checkbook (does that expression even track anymore?). I want to take a moment to talk about budgeting yourself… Your time, your energy, your patience, and your will to fight for something.
We all have the same 24 hours in every day, but alot of us have 25 hours worth of work to do. It is crucial that you learn to manage your time and prioritize properly. What works best for me is to pick and choose when to spend some time on working for improvement and when to spend it on personal recovery. You need both, and it can be so easy to get in the mindset that you always have to be working towards something.
That\’s a dangerous, unhealthy mindset that will burn you out and leave you giving half efforts in everything you do.
There\’s somethings obviously that you have to do, non-negotiable. You have to go to work. You have to take care of your kids. You have to maintain your home. These are things that you can\’t vote \”no\” on if you don\’t want to cause serious regrets.
You can, however, choose to read a book today and mow the lawn tomorrow. You can have a night out with your friends tonight, leave the laundry for tomorrow. It\’s not lazy to live by your own schedule. It\’s okay to give yourself little vacations from daily responsibilities, just don\’t get carried away. It can get addicting and it\’s a slippery slope. Use discipline.
Just like you only have so much time and energy, you only have so much patience. We can all let some things slide and look away while face-palming at the cringy things that happen around us, but there\’s a limit. Every time we excuse something, it takes a little of our patience. When you run out of patience you will be unbearable and probably damage the relationships that you hold dear. Instead, budget your patience. Look at where you\’re spending it. Are there trends? If you find that the same person is becoming a metaphorical money-pit for your patience, it may be time to have a difficult conversation. Maybe it\’s not on that person. Maybe they are doing anything wrong it\’s just something that you find annoying. In that case, it goes back to budgeting your time and energy. If time with that person starts feeling like a chore, it\’s okay to stay in for a night and recharge with a good Netflix binge instead.
Again, your time is your time and you don\’t owe it to anyone.
On the flip side, there may be things that you stand firm on frequently. We all have our lines in the sand. Certain pet peeves, or topics that we will always make our views known on. That\’s a good thing. There are some foul things in this world and change requires failings to be constantly and consistently called out.
The only thing needed for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.
I\’m not telling you to do nothing. I\’m not telling you to fold on your convictions. But if you\’re spent… If you don\’t have the energy or the will to take on some of the more difficult issues right now, it\’s okay to scroll past that post. It\’s okay to make a mental note to address something later when you\’re more ready for the debate that will likely follow. And you know what? It\’s even okay if you want to sheathe the sword for a while. Choose to argue your point by not arguing. Be kind. Show love. Forget the argument and love the person. It\’s okay to have a de facto vow of peace for a while to recenter yourself and recharge.
The point I\’m making is not to give up on being you or to walk away from friends and hobbies. I\’m not saying stop standing up for what you believe in. I\’m just telling you that if you\’re tired, if you are weary and need to rest, if you just don\’t have the strength… You\’ve done enough. Take a break. Enjoy some peace. It\’s okay when you are budgeting yourself, give a piece or two to you. You will never be happy if you can\’t take a little time in the present to just slow down and be free.
Recharge. Recover. Rebuild. Resume.