Seeing Beyond School Stress! How to balance faith, responsibilities, and school burnout! Reddit Replies

Rico Lane:
Hey. What's going on everybody? I am Rico bringing you another heartfelt edition of Reddit Replies. Man, today we're touching on the topic that I don't care who you are. I know it's gonna hit home for you. I'm talking stress. I'm talking dealing with school, a bunch of different tasks, balancing life and trying to keep the faith in the mix of all the things that are thrown at us. We got a story from a young soul out there who's feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders y'all. So let's go ahead and lean in, listen, and share your comments in the comment section.

Rico Lane:
Holler back at your boy and we're gonna see if we can shed some light at the end of the tunnel for this young lady. Let's go ahead and check out her Reddit post.

Reddit User:
School is so draining right now. I'm doing math homework and I'm crying because not only do I not know how to do it, but I have an essay to do, research, and so much more homework. I can't handle it. It's too much for me. I can never get a break and I always feel stressed. How am I supposed to do my best when I can't even find the energy to pray or read my bible? School is always gonna be here and it's not like I can just be like, nah, I'm just gonna quit school. I can't do that. But it's like, why do I have to do this? Why do I have to do all this work? Why do I have to keep going? I don't want to.

Reddit User:
I really, truly don't. I don't see any end to this because guess what? I have to do this for my senior year and then when I go to college. I don't wanna study and stress out until I die. I don't wanna live a life like this. I really do try to balance it but I just can't. How can I pray, read my bible, get enough sleep, and do all my homework all in one day? I know god knows my future but am I just to not try? I don't even know what I wanna be when I graduate. I don't know anything. I'm just doing stuff that everyone else is doing to seem impressive to colleges.

Reddit User:
I want God to help me because I can't do this anymore. The work never stops coming. I listen to Christian music when I get on my bus to school, but it doesn't calm me down or take away my emptiness, dread, and terrible fear that I'll never be someone.

Rico Lane:
Man, sister, first off, you gotta breathe, man. You're feeling they're valid. Don't get me wrong. And that amount of stress you're feeling, it is real. Right? But it's also temporary. Nothing lasts forever. What you're sowing right now are those seas of hard work, of discipline. And trust me, they're gonna bloom into something beyond what you can see at this moment.

Rico Lane:
I get it. I've been there. School can be stressful. Life can be stressful. Trust me. It doesn't get that much easier when you get older, but you learn how to deal with it. You You learn how to overcome. It's just a test.

Rico Lane:
It's only a chapter in your bigger story. Nothing lasts forever. It is a temper rarely season. Trust me. Matter of fact, Galatians chapter 6 verses 7 through 9 tell us, don't be misled. You cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature.

Rico Lane:
But those who live to please the spirit will harvest everlasting life from the spirit. You see right now your flesh wants you to quit. Your flesh wants you to give in. Your flesh wants you to stop believing in God and trusting that God gonna take care of you. But he got you. You got a responsibility right now to complete school. That's what you should be stewarding over, right? You're learning lessons that's going to help prepare you to be more successful in life. That is currently your role and that's what God has for you.

Rico Lane:
And no matter what, you need to do it as if you're doing it for the Lord. Because ultimately that's your master and that's who you're doing it for. So go hard at it. Crush it. Trust me. You got this. No matter what, don't get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time, you will reap a harvest of blessing if if you don't give up.

Rico Lane:
Now right now, it might seem like all you plant are tears and frustration, but trust me, you're also planting resilience. You're planting knowledge. You're planting, dedication. You're planting faith, and the harvest is coming soon. Right? All the dedication you putting in, all the studying, all the late nights, all preparing you for a future filled with success, stability, and satisfaction. If you do what is hard now, your life will be easy. But if you do what is easy now, later on your life's gonna be hard. I believe that was Les Brown who said that you just gotta give your seeds time to grow, sister.

Rico Lane:
In fact, you can actually, learn a lesson from the apostle Paul. Now if anybody, if anybody had the right to be stressed and want to give up, it was Paul. This brother was beaten. He was ran out of city. He was put in prison and he still said the following in Romans chapter 5, starting at verse 3. We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials. We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials for we know they help us develop endurance. Right now, sister, you're developing endurance endurance and endurance develops strength of character.

Rico Lane:
Right now, sister, you're developing and you're strengthening your character and character strength is our confident hope of salvation. Matter of fact, the more you trust in God, the more you grow and be obedient to God, the more you're gonna trust in salvation and you will feel his presence. And this hope will not lead to disappointment for we know how dearly God love us because he's given us the Holy Reddit to fill our hearts with his love. And not only that, the Holy Spirit is our helper. And when we feel like it's too much, when you're feeling like you just wanna roll over and quit, when you feel like you're just done and you can't take no more, meditate on Philippians chapter 4 verse 13. Matter of fact, it says, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. And see, this isn't just about powering through math homework or banging out essays or doing all the different things your teacher and your parents require of you. It's about knowing that even in the overwhelm, you're not alone.

Rico Lane:
God's got you. He gives you strength to face each day bit by bit. And trust me, I am speaking from experience. I've been where you were at. I remember working on my bachelor's then my master's. I remember being in school. Like, is this it? Is this like, how am I gonna make a living? How I I can't take this no more. Is this what life is all about? Kind of felt like Solomon in Ecclesiastes like vanity, vanity, vanity.

Rico Lane:
Life is just vanity. Right? But I felt that same pressure. I had that same doubt. But looking back to where I'm standing now, it all makes sense. The school, the late nights, the stress, it was all preparing me for challenges and triumphs ahead. Matter of fact, I found myself blessed with so many opportunities. I can't even imagine. I I I can't even dreamed it up, man.

Rico Lane:
I had the opportunity to teach at the University of Georgia. Go, dawgs. I served as a commission officer in the greatest air force in the world. And now I'm retired from the air force and not only do I get my retirement, not only do I get disability, I also got a rewarding 6 figure career. And it all started from being disciplined in school and trusting God's plan. Now, I wanna talk about managing it all and I got this concept. I don't remember where I learned it from but I call it the closest alligator to the boat. This is when this concept kicks in.

Rico Lane:
Right? You need to focus on what's most present, your closest alligator. Imagine you in a boat and there's alligators all around you and the alligators are trying to sink your boat. You gotta take out the closest alligator first. Right? And so you have to learn to prioritize your biggest tasks that are threatening to sink your boat. So if you got a test tomorrow, then you know tonight I need to study. And maybe the assignment that's due 2 weeks from now, I can work on that this weekend. You know, but you gotta learn how to prioritize those things. Set smaller goals, knock them out.

Rico Lane:
And when you knock them out, you have this sense of accomplishment to help you wanna keep going. Time management is key. And as far as time with the Lord, right, instead of one long prayer, right, keep those mini prayers rolling throughout the day, especially when you feel like you don't have time for a dedicated prayer session. Right? And I'm talking before you go go to class, before you take a test, before you interact with people and your friends or your teachers, right? And even when you first wake up in the morning, just give God thanks. Even if it's just a quick, God, give me focus and strength. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead me, Lord. Help me to not be anxious or stressed. Allow me to operate in love with everybody I deal with today.

Rico Lane:
Allow me to remember what what what I need to do to handle this and handle that. Help me to be more productive. He hears you always and remember, you're building a future where you won't have to be that elderly person with that minimum wage job working way past the retirement age and they doing it because they have to. They have nothing else. They couldn't do anything else because of different choices they made in life. You don't wanna be that person. So you Reddit yourself up to have a life filled with options and opportunities and, yes, even rest. Please note that God understand the need for rest.

Rico Lane:
Matter of fact, he encourages it which is why he instituted the Sabbath day. Sometimes we hustle so hard, we get so stressed, we feel like we're about to explode and all we really need is just a nap, right, and some good old r and r, what we call it in the military. Taking a break is not a sign of weakness but instead, it's actually a sign of wisdom. This actually reminds me of Elijah. Right? You can read the story in 1st Kings, 9, 1st Kings 19 verse 5. But, anyway, this brother was so depressed. He went out into the wilderness and actually prayed to God that he might die. Do you know how bad it has to be for you to ask God to allow you to die? Right? Asking your creator to go ahead and take you out.

Rico Lane:
However, while he was sleeping, an angel came, woke him up, told him to eat, and then guess what? God sent him right back on mission. And so when you get tired, take a nap, eat a snack, and then get back at it. Don't give up. God got you. Keep your head up, sister. You're not just going through the motions. You're crafting a future that you will thank yourself for later. And in all of it, just keep God first.

Rico Lane:
He's walking with you every step of the way. Trust me. For those of y'all who've walked this path, right, who found ways to balance the demands of life, school, faith, work, parenting, whatever. Drop your stories. Drop your tips below. Let's support each other with wisdom and encouragement. And matter of fact, do me a favor. Don't forget to hit that like button.

Rico Lane:
Subscribe, share, follow, whatever. Do that so you can get more Christian content and so we can support each other. And just so you're aware, you can catch Reddit replies either on YouTube or your favorite, podcast, whether that's Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and a bunch of other ones. Right? But I'm Rico, and until next time.