HOW STRESS MAKES YOU LOSE FOCUS

It is very easy to lose focus when one is stressed. The evil in it is that you tend to validate the stress using the convenient option of seeing yourself as hardworking. Stress will get you distracted. Anytime you notice fatigue, kindly find time to relax and reflect on what drove you into that rabbit hole. The way out is in the outcome of the productive and truthful reflection.

Prior to my arrival in England, I had already figured out a bit of the essence of my coming. A month after arrival I got a job as a warehouse operative at Amazon. I calculated my bills and with support from my wife, I was satisfied with what I am going to earn at Amazon. It was going to be my first job so the salary was not an issue. I had plans of taking a few training sessions so as to apply for the kind of job I preferred.

Then on the first day of resumption, I learnt working on a night shift pays better than day shift. So I counted myself lucky to have been on night shift. That’s not all, I also learnt that there are opportunities to do overtime which could pay almost double of the basic wage by the 60th hour. As a Nigerian boy, I began to make calculations of what I could do with my overtime income.

Immediately I forgot that a few hours to my resumption, I was entirely satisfied with the basic wage and had proposed cutting my coat according to my cloth. The plan not to stress myself continued so I can have time for what I believe is my real essence of being in the UK. Then, i met one Ghanaian guy who encouraged me to try overtime. I reluctantly tried it and when the wage was paid, I was very happy. So happy I didn’t want to stop it even at an obvious disadvantage to my health and sanity.

Day after day, my prayer time started dropping, not for lack of desire but for lack of the initial physical strength to start. I will spend most of my offtimes sleeping. I initially always prayed in the spirit while working, then I noticed that stopped too. So I decided that instead of taking a second bus home, I will walk so I can pray while walking in a way to make up for lost prayer time. I did for some days but combining the walk with the tiredness from work and overtime became unbearable. I was not happy.

So one day I was praying and searching my spirit for what to do and the holy spirit started reminding me of my initial state of mind before the job. He reminded me of how I suddenly became dissatisfied with my basic wage after I learnt what I can earn during overtime. He shocked me by telling me how suddenly my focus on how to pay my bills and fulfill obligations shifted from God’s ability to bless me to how much I can earn through labour. All these happened when I was just three months old in the UK and two months on my job.

One day I asked a colleague at work if he goes to church. He told me he cannot combine work with church but his wife manages to go. This colleague does 60 hours of work weekly and that is crazy. I have skipped Sunday service too because I was just so tired and I pardon myself with the option of watching online.

Our adversary the devil is real and he is looking for every means to render us useless by distraction. Working is important, working hard is even more important but we must never allow ourselves to be distracted from our essence of existence. We do not exist to eat, drink and have fun. That’s what animals do. Our existence is not merely to pay bills because bills don’t get exhausted. We exist to serve the interest of the one that put us on earth, the one whom we would give account to. Anything that makes our devotion to our God through Jesus difficult must be tagged an enemy.

Take time to reflect deeply on what you are doing and why you are doing it. May the Lord bless the works of your hand. IT IS THE LORD’S BLESSING THAT MAKETH RICH AND ADDS NO SORROW. 

Also find time to read how communication can take away a lot of burden