Sunday Musings: When Things Run Out

Earlier today, I realized that I was feeling so stressed about the number of things I needed to get done that I was actually getting nothing done.

To put it bluntly, I had run out of energy!

Of course, I realize that this is an experience it's likely that most of us have had at one time or another. I might even go so far as to suggest that it is a common byproduct of modern life and grind culture. We fill our lives with more and more "stuff" of all kinds, so perhaps it's only natural that we eventually reach full saturation.

Anyway, I reached full saturation... so I went and sat in the living room and did something I have not allowed myself time to do in a long time: I meditated.

Afterwards, I reflected on the fact that we tend to do the vast majority of things in life because we feel some kind of purpose. And, typically, there is some kind of reward associated with the pursuit of that purpose.

To back up for a second, I want to clarify that when I say reward, I don't necessarily mean that it comes in the form of money. Sometimes what is rewarded is our soul, or our spirit, or our psyche, or some other part of our beingness.

But let's say that we do work for money. What happens when the money starts to run out? What happens when we're putting forth the same amount of effort but we're experiencing diminishing returns? At what point do we just stop and say "I'm not going to do this anymore?"

This might not be as much of a question for somebody who gets up in the morning and goes to work at a job, as it is for somebody — such as myself — who is self-employed. I do get up in the morning and start working, but there's nobody who hands me a paycheck at the end of the day. My reward depends entirely on my effort, and on my ability to parlay what I'm doing into a financial reward.

On a number of occasions in my life I have faced the situation and which I realize that what I was doing no longer had the capacity to make money, or didn't have the capacity to make money at a rate that allowed me to sustain myself.

In short: the money ran out.

But, as I said, it doesn't have to be about a monetary reward.

Could be that you're working for the fun of it so what happens when the fun runs out and what you're doing becomes a chore rather than fun?

I have watched many people just quit one day, doing things a long professed were their favorite kind of entertainment because it just didn't feel like something they wanted to do anymore.

In short: the fun ran out.

Some people work simply because they are incredibly passionate about something. This tends to be particularly true of those who are drawn to charities and philanthropic endeavors.

You working working work, and it is your wish to change the world and make things better but perhaps you don't see anything materially changing over a long period of time. Then you wake up one morning and wonder to yourself why you are even doing this, and why you feel exhausted by something you used to be passionate about.

In short: the passion ran out.

I suppose this kind of scenario could even be applied to love. We often launch ourselves into endeavors because of love.

And yet? There might come a time when our hearts grow hardened and cynical and that love we first experienced no longer exists and he might even have been replaced by anger or bitterness. It's not that rare! Just consider the extremely high divorce rate in many parts of the world. I would guess that if you asked a lot of those people getting divorced, they would admit that love ran out.

If you back away, and look at all these bits and pieces and scenarios in which the driving motivation "runs out," it points towards the reality that no matter how altruistic we may feel we are, very few people are able and willing to work for nothing, in the long run.

If we don't feel like we somehow get to adequately fill our internal "tanks," we reach a point when we have simply run out of ability to continue doing what we have been doing.

Hence my ending up sitting in the living room staring into space, rather than getting my work done!

Whether we simply need to take a short break, or completely reconfigure our lives for something different, is a very individual thing. I have been part of both scenarios, multiple times.

Thanks for stopping by, and spending a little time reading my musings about life. May you have a great week ahead!

How about YOU? Do you ever feel like you have just "run out" of ability to dsal with life? How do you handle it? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2026.03.22 17:42 PST
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