In recent weeks, I’ve heard the same experience expressed in many conversations – and I have felt it within myself as well:
There is a kind of fatigue that goes deeper than physical exhaustion.
A fatigue that doesn’t disappear, even if we sleep enough or take time to rest.
I call it, for myself, the fatigue of the soul.
It arises quietly, almost imperceptibly.
While we go through the motions of everyday life, functioning, trying to juggle everything – often pushing beyond our inner boundaries.
When the Body Grows Still, the Soul Speaks Louder
In recent years, I’ve learned to sense more carefully.
When I feel tired – not only physically, but on the inside – I know:
Something in my lifestyle is no longer aligned with my inner rhythm.
Maybe you know this as well:
• that diffuse feeling of “I just can’t anymore”
• the subtle tension or tightening in your chest
• the thoughts circling without coming to rest
• the urge to withdraw
• or that heaviness that cannot be named
I see it in many people I work with.
We carry so much – and often we realize only very late that we have lost ourselves.
Soul Fatigue Does Not Arise Overnight
It builds gradually, over time.
Not from one single event, but from many small moments in which we ignored ourselves:
• a “yes” when we felt “no”
• too many expectations, too little inner peace
• too much “outer world,” too little “inner space”
• too much responsibility, too little grounding
Until at some point, the body grows quieter and the soul grows louder.
December Brings Many Things to the Surface
The end of the year has a special quality.
It gathers everything we have not resolved during the year.
The conversations we postponed.
The decisions we avoided.
The tensions we forgot during daily routines, but continued to carry within us.
Every year I witness how people become more tired in December.
Not because they are weak – but because something inside them calls for a pause that goes deeper than a free afternoon.
The Soul Does Not Need a Break – It Needs Us
The more I work with inner processes, the clearer it becomes to me:
Soul fatigue is not a failure.
It is a signal.
A gentle attempt of life to guide us back.
Back to what nourishes us.
Back to what we need.
Back to ourselves.
It is not about stopping or questioning everything.
It is about softening toward what we feel.
A New Year Begins Within Us, Not in the Calendar
My wish for everyone – and for myself – is that we do not view the end of the year merely as a closure, but as an invitation.
An invitation to pause.
To sense.
To ask:
• What has exhausted me this year?
• What do I not want to carry into the new year?
• Where have I abandoned myself?
• And what does my soul truly long for right now?
These questions are quiet.
But they carry strength.
A Small Path Back to Ourselves with Heartmath Breathwork
In these moments of inner fatigue, I use a heart-centered practice that I not only discovered for myself, but also share in my HeartMath coachings and trainings. It is simple, gentle, and profound – and it brings me back to myself every time.
I softly direct my attention to my heart. Then I imagine that with each inhale, a feeling of gratitude, appreciation, or love flows gently into my heart. As if I were nourishing myself from within, becoming softer, returning to my inner center.
With the exhale, I let this feeling expand:
first throughout my body – until I feel it everywhere –
and then beyond, into the space around me.
Often also toward people I hold in my heart, as if offering them a silent gift.
After a few breaths, something within me becomes clearer. Not loudly, but truthfully.
And it is only from this clarity that I can truly step back and look honestly at the questions that the year’s end brings.
Not to function.
Not to meet expectations.
But to hear my truth.
Only in this inner connection can I discern which next steps truly nourish me –
and which would merely be subtle self-deception, just to keep going.
A Final Thought
Perhaps the fatigue so many of us feel is not our enemy.
Perhaps it is a sign that we are invited to return to ourselves.
To strive less.
To feel more.
To allow ourselves to be human – with everything that comes with it.
When we come closer to ourselves again, a new year does not begin with a date.
It begins in the moment we feel ourselves once more.
In connectedness,
Marion
