I was unbelievably tired after returning home late last night from my four day trip to Palm Springs for back to back meetings on philanthropic giving and staying up until 4am writing my blog and attempting to take an initial stab at reading the mounds of emails I missed while I was away. That’s when I remembered I had previously committed to speak for to a Master’s class at Brigham Young University today so I jumped in bed to grab just a couple of hours of sleep and then I forced myself to wake up and prepare a powerpoint for my presentation. As I was driving up to the Salt Lake campus of the University this afternoon I was literally fighting to keep my eyes open, wondering how I was going to get through the next few hours…I was beat…like, really beat…
But the moment I arrived at the campus and walked into the classroom to see the students waiting that little voice inside my head said, “Forget about yourself and how tired you are feeling and focus on them.” And with that little reminder came a surge of energy that allowed me to get through giving my talk and doing the Q&A afterwards. It even allowed me to spend time with a group of the students who came up to talk to me as I packed up my laptop at the end. It was nearly three hours later when I finally got back to my car to drive home.
There is something to be said for the heavenly help we are granted when we are serving others. The fact is I was exhausted today…seriously exhausted…but I was full of energy as I talked with those students, and I was happy spending time with them.
“If you really want to receive joy and happiness, then serve others with all your heart. Lift their burden, and your own will be lighter.” – Ezra Taft Benson
As I sit here now at one in the morning just finishing up tonight’s blog I am definitely still exhausted, but my burdens feel lighter, and I feel so blessed for getting to spend time with those amazing students at BYU today. #grateful
Service is the best energy boost in the world!
~Amy Rees Anderson (read Amy’s new book “What AWESOME Looks Like: How To Excel In Business & Life” )
