Why are you so tired?

"You look tired."

Seriously. If I hear that one more time I may lose my darn mind. I don't know when it became acceptable for us to go around commenting on people's looks all the time but that's another blog for another day.

Nowadays when people say that I look tired, I just respond with, "I feel great. This is just my face."

The thing is, there was a period of time where I was tired. Exhausted even. And being tired can be part of a season of life or it can be a sign of health problems, or really poor choices.

Let's break it down.

1. Seasonal tired (give yourself grace)

- Graduate school

- New mom tired (that really lasts for 5 years, let's be honest)

- New job

- Stressful life events

2. Health problems (see your PA)

- Thyroid issues (holy moly I know this tired - aka the walking dead)

- Anemia

- Lyme disease

- Low testosterone (in men)

- Chronic fatigue syndrome

- Fibromyalgia

- Lupus

- Virtually any autoimmune disease

- Sleep apnea

- Depression

3. Poor choices tired (you can fix this!)

- Glorification of busyness

- Overcommitment

- Refusal to participate in rest

- Not prioritizing sleep

- Eating a poor diet

- Refusing to exercise

There are a bazillion reasons we may be tired. But we are not powerless. For those of us in seasons of fatigue, I can promise this: the seasons change. Do what you can to survive. Let go of nonessentials and focus on your season for now. It's not selfish to do that.

For those of us with health problems, let's commit to stop putting our health on the back burner. Take our meds. See our providers. Fuel ourselves properly.

For those of us making poor choices, we are doomed to continue these. Pick one and focus on it for a while. Our lives aren't all or nothing, they're a journey and we can do this.

Oh, and stop telling people they look tired and just offer to come clean their house for them ;)