EMOTIONAL SUPPLY LINES SUSTAIN US ALL

One critical element of military logistics is the notion of supply lines. Simply put, supply lines are the means whereby food, weapons, ammunition, information, and reinforcements (all the elements necessary to maintain health and readiness) are provided to a force.

Any military unit must have well established and well protected supply lines in order to wage any kind of sustained battle.

But the notion of a supply line is not unique to the military. Every day, each of us wages our own personal battles. Battles against depression, health, fatigue, or adversity—we battle for many things. Some battle for balance, while others battle for direction. Some battle for attention, while others battle for anonymity.

Whatever battles we may fight, they all tax us emotionally. Over time, these battles wear us down and diminish our emotional reserves. In order to successfully wage any sustained battle, we must be sure we have well established emotional supply lines.

Sometimes these are places we go regularly for spiritual refreshment, like spending time in nature, in church, or in other holy (or personally significant) places. Some might have family or a network of friends who encourage and support them. Some find that a few personal moments for quiet reflection during the day are sufficient to invigorate them for the battles they face.

The point is to make sure you have those supply lines and that you protect them.

Perhaps more importantly, you should ask yourself, “whose emotional supply line am I?”

As a parent, a spouse, a teacher, a son/daughter, a friend, a neighbor, a coworker, an associate, or sometimes even just a bystander, we all are equipped with the ability to supply emotional nourishment and support to those around us.

After all, you never know when you may be someone’s last remaining emotional supply line.  You never know when your words or actions might just be the tipping point for someone’s day—for better or worse. You never know if the role you have in someone’s life (however seemingly insignificant it may SEEM to you) might be pivotal to them.

Let us all be a little more sensitive, a little more aware, a little more alert, and a little more sympathetic to the unknown battles fought by those around us.

-Rusty