Every now and then I’ll talk to someone who is absolutely at the end of their rope.

Tired. Stressed out. Depressed. Hopeless.

Running on a treadmill of money worries, relationship issues or job problems.

The scenery never changes. The pace never changes. The energy level never improves. Yet they keep putting one foot in front of the other in time with the treadmill.

Depending on the day, sometimes I’m the guy on the treadmill.

Most of the folks I run into who are at the end of their rope got that way because they overcommitted themselves somewhere along the way.

Dad couldn’t say no to taking on the extra load at work. Mom didn’t want to be left out of the weekly Bible Study.

Dad feels bad for working late, so he volunteers to coach tee-ball two nights a week. Mom discovers that the 45-minute weekly Bible Study has three hours a week of homework that go with it.

Repeat that scenario over and over, with the web of commitments widening and tangling each time, and all of a sudden there’s a mess.

You might know someone who is on the treadmill right now. You might be the one.

If you need to unravel yourself from a nasty web of commitments, grab one at a time and ask these questions about each thing:

Why am I doing this?

Who am I doing this for?

Does the person I’m doing it for know I’m doing it for them?

If the person I’m doing this for knew how much it was costing me in terms of mood and stress, would they still expect me to do it?

What happens if I stop doing this?

Until you get off the treadmill, the scenery will never change, the pace will never change and your energy level won’t improve.

Have you been overcommitted? What did you do about it?

Are you overcommitted now? Can you picture a time when you’re not overcommitted?