On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living

by Alan Noble

The next commands, to be sober-minded, to be watchful, and to resist the devil, are good reminders that living with mental affliction requires vigilance. The devil would like nothing more than to persuade you that your life is meaningless, for it is in the destruction of what God has made good that the devil seeks to defy God. Practically, resisting may look like talking to yourself: making a habit of identifying and denying thoughts of worthlessness, hopelessness, and despair. The goal is not to reason your brain out of despair. That rarely works, in my experience. Instead, it’s to form habits that in their very nature affirm what you know to be true when you don’t feel it to be true. When you are tired, sick, stressed, burned out from doing some thankless good work—any time you are vulnerable to self-doubt—be ready to label it as the lie it is and move on. You’ll probably still feel bad, but that’s okay. Just do the next thing in faith.