Fatigue: spiritual meaning and emotional causes

What fatigue is

Fatigue is a lasting feeling of tiredness, weakness or lack of energy that makes ordinary tasks feel harder. It is very common and usually has an ordinary cause: too little or poor-quality sleep, long working hours, caring for others, stress, a recent infection, alcohol, or being less active. It can also be a sign of an illness, such as anaemia, an underactive thyroid, diabetes, sleep apnoea, depression, coeliac disease or a long-lasting infection, or a side effect of a medicine.

A GP can talk through your sleep, work and mood, and may suggest blood tests to look for a treatable cause. When fatigue lasts many months, gets much worse after small efforts and does not lift with rest, it can be chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which has its own page.

The emotional meaning of fatigue

Spiritually, fatigue is the feeling of being flat, emptied out inside. The question it raises is about love: how much you love the life you are leading at the moment, and where your motivation has gone.

Energy spent on fighting

Worries, fears, sorrows and old inner hurts can push you to struggle, to resist and to refuse certain situations. Each fight takes energy. Instead of looking for what your difficulties have in common, you may spread your strength across too many directions at once, until you despair of finding any solution at all.

Weariness with life

Fatigue is linked to a kind of weariness with life itself, an inner tiredness that comes from having to fight just to keep moving forward. You may feel beaten down, incompetent, lacking, without interest in anything. You may no longer know which way to turn, because the joy of living has gone thin. When this weighs for a long time, depression is possible, and it deserves real care.

Boredom and unanswered questions

Boredom can feel like living in the dark. You may be full of questions about the things in life that make no sense, with no one to help you find answers. Carrying them alone is tiring in itself.

Old effort from childhood

Sometimes the tiredness goes back a long way. As a child, you may have spent a lot of energy trying to work out who you were supposed to be like, for example when your parents did not match the roles you expected of them. That effort to find your own shape can leave a deep, quiet fatigue.

Whatever its source, this tiredness is both moral and physical. When it comes with a life that has become all duty and no rest, it can also be a sign of burnout.

A gentler way to hold it

• Accept the pause. Your body may be asking for a stop: time to rest, take stock and fill up again.
• Gather your energy. Notice where you are fighting on many fronts, and choose one thing to face at a time.
• Let go of the past. Each time your mind goes back to old struggles, return to the present moment. Each moment brings the energy it needs.
• Do what you love. Make room, even for ten minutes, for something you enjoy for its own sake. Pleasure is a source of energy.
• Ask your questions out loud. Share what puzzles or worries you with someone you trust, so you are not carrying it alone.