181: Don't Feel Bad For Being Tired. Be Grateful.

**Nick Bare** (0:06)
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today's episode is titled, Don't Feel Bad For Being Tired, Be Grateful. I shared this message on my Instagram a few days ago. I was mid run, I was wrapping up a morning six mile run, part of my morning routine every morning, alarm clock goes off, 5 a.m., I slug my fuel, G1M Sport, G1M Sport Plus, I stand in front of the red light panel, and by 5 30 a.m., 30 minutes after waking up, shoes are laced up, sauna is preheating, and I am running. And as I was wrapping up my six mile run, I was thinking about this topic. It was front of mine for the entire run, and I pulled my phone out, and I just recorded a clip of me talking about it, and I posted it, and it connected with a lot of people. Don't feel bad for being tired. Be grateful. What sparked this thought? What sparked this idea?
You know, right now, me and my wife, Steph, we are in a crazy, busy, chaotic season of life. I'm a husband. I'm a father to two young kids. My daughter is going to be four years old this summer. Here in a few weeks, my son is going to be two years old this summer. Here in a few weeks, I'll be 36 years old this summer. Here in a few weeks, me and my kids' birthdays are all within a month of each other. I'm a business owner. I'm a founder of an organization, a leader of 45 people within this building, this organization. I love the train. I'm an athlete. I'm a son of God. I'm committed to to a lot of things, a lot of people. I'm responsible for a lot of things, a lot of people. And I feel that weight. I feel that responsibility.
And I'm tired right now. That's the truth. In this phase of life, I am tired. They are long days. They are early mornings and they are late nights. And what sparked this, this thought initially, was I was sitting in the sauna one night, which Steph and I typically do after we get the kids down for bed, sit in the sauna, first breather of the day, first silence of the day, and just let my shoulders kind of sink in a little bit, feeling the heat around me, dropping some water on the rocks to increase the humidity.
And I thought to myself, this is an exhausting phase of life.
And I say this in all honesty, it is really hard being a committed and dedicated family man, husband, father, ambitious, career driven individual, but it is so fulfilling. I wouldn't want it any other way. I don't want to be rested in this phase of life. I want to be tired. I'm asking for more tired.
And I mean that. So when I say and I tell you, I'm tired right now, I'm exhausted, that is not a complaint.
I want to be very clear, that is not a complaint. It is a reality. And I'm going to lean in to that. I'm going to embrace that. You know, some of you guys can resonate or relate to what I'm talking about. You might be in a similar season of life where you wake up early to have a few hours to yourself, to get your training in, to prepare for the day. And then, you're getting the kids ready and you're spending time with the family. And then you go to work and you work really, really hard. And then maybe you find some time to get a second training session in, in that day before coming home and getting dinner prepped and playing with the kids and being with the family to then start bedtime routines and bath time. And then having a few minutes or hours maybe to yourself or with your partner or your significant other, your husband, your wife, and then going to sleep after preparing for the next day to do it all over again in a few hours. If that's you, I see you. I feel it, you know, I feel what you're going through, but I see you. And my message here is if you're tired, just like Jaco would say, I'm not going to try to take credit for this one, Jaco would say, good. Are you tired? Yeah, I'm tired. Good. That's good. Me too. So let's keep going. Let's keep leaning in. Rather than feeling bad for being tired or resenting the exhaustion, flip it on its head. Be grateful.
Now, I found myself before, at the end of the day, and I share all of this with you because I have at periods in my life, especially over these last four years, since becoming a dad, I have found myself in low moments or periods of time where I have been mad at myself or the circumstances and the situation for being tired, for being exhausted. I have resented the exhaustion that I have experienced. You know, sometimes when you're in it, you want the complete opposite. Not an opposite life, but an opposite feeling. Sometimes when you're extremely tired and exhausted, you just want rest.