"So What Do You Do When You've Already Planted 40 Acres Too Much?" / Lloyd

"So what do you do when you've already planted 40 acres too much?"

This comment to my previous posting is worth considering. It is humorous but also terribly close to the mark. As I thought about it the following counsel from President Brigham Young came to mind:

 "Instead of doing two days' work in one day, wisdom would dictate to our sisters, and to every other person, that if they desire long life and good heath, they must, after sufficient exertion, allow the body to rest before it is entirely exhausted. When exhausted, some argue that they need stimulants in the shape of tea, coffee, spirituous liquors, tobacco, or some of those narcotic substances which are often taken to goad on the lagging powers to greater exertions. But instead of these kind of stimulants whey should recruit by rest. Work less, wear less, eat less, and we shall be a great deal wiser, healthier, and wealthier people than by taking the course we now do. It is difficult to find anything more healthy to drink than good cold water, such as flows down to us from springs and snows of our mountains. This is the beverage we should drink. It should be our drink at all times. If we constantly drink even malt liquor made from our barley and wheat, our health would be injured more or less thereby."  (See Discourses of Brigham Young, Second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, by John A. Widtsoe, pp 290-91)

I recently attended a Sunday School class where the discussion included care to avoid addiction to prescribed medications and over-the-counter meds and popular power beverages. I particularly have to be careful because I take Ritalin for ADHD.  I could easily become dependent on Ritalin's stimulant characteristics to keep me going physically when I should be getting natural rest. My physician specifically cautioned me about this.

Bottom line: We need to recognize when we've planted more acres than we can care for with resulting harm to ourselves and our families and have the courage to restructure our lives to accommodate our natural capabilities. And we need to be especially careful to avoid relying on the steroids of our time to push us beyond healthful limitations. Sounds like they had some whoppers in President Young's day.

This is what came to mind as I thought about the reader's excellent comment.