I collapsed on the couch. My wife and I had just gotten our 5 young children to bed and I was exhausted. This routine is not abnormal for the nights I am at home. But this evening was different. The exhaustion had reached a new level. It was not just physical, there was a mental and emotional exhaustion. All I could do was sit on the couch try to engage my mind and think about what to do next, but I couldn’t do it. It was a stress that I was unfamiliar with.

Thankfully that night and the debilitating exhaustion from stress did not last. I was able to engage in conversation later that evening, get a good night sleep, and do what I had to the next day. But those minutes of crippling stress got me reflecting on leadership and the levels of stress many of us have been dealing with. Leadership is never easy and healthily comes with varying levels of stress, even stress that causes discomfort. But when the situation gets to debilitating, that is not healthy.

Discomfort helps development.

Eric Geiger

In the midst of reflecting on the night I collapsed on the couch, an article by Eric Geiger came across my reading list. In the piece “Leaders and 3 Types of Stress“, Geiger does a great job defining and describing 3 categories of stress leaders can face. However, the most helpful part to me of the article was the permission Eric gives to handle each stress differently.

While I don’t believe I entered into the second type of stress Geiger lists, I am fearful I don’t live or seek out the third type enough. What about you? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences with stress and how it affected you. As always be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day.