So as I was on my way to work this morning, my car, Appa told me something very specific.
"Beep beep"
Now I know Appa very well, so I knew just what he was telling me, which is that I was almost out of gas.
I was also at least 7 miles away from my office. I hung up my phone call with Squee, and focused hard on getting to a gas station as directly, quickly, and safely as I could.
And I made it. Even though my distance-to-empty meter said I had zero miles of fuel left, I was able to get to a station not far from the office.
After I filled up, I drove to the office and worked an intensely busy day. I am in the middle of a very big project at work, something which is making me stretch technically, is quite challenging, and rewarding too. I spent the day down in the weeds of many pieces of code, amidst much strategizing and decision making. At one point I spent about three hours researching if the particular code I was looking at could be kept, or if it would be better to throw it out completely.
It grew dark outside. Everyone else left. I kept going.
At a certain point, I realized I was, mentally, out of gas. I shut down the laptop, packed up and got out of there.
Because I knew the truth: There's a time to be busy and a time to rest. There's a time to focus on many things, and a time to focus on just one.
When I went outside to my car, I was pleased to see the nearly full tank of gas it had from this morning's misadventure, and I realized it was the small lesson all over again.
I'm glad I know to take the time to refuel.