“We had tickets to the Kennedy Center,” she said to her friend. “And I told my husband that we are never going to the Kennedy Center again in the middle of sports season!”

Her friend nodded empathetically.

“Between baseball and football and cheerleading. All the games and practices that they must go to, I just cannot do another concert…it’s too stressful.”

She took another sip, her headband (coordinating with her yoga pants) challenging the wind to destroy the perfect ponytail.

“But,” she continued, “when is it NOT sports season, right? Ha!”

Her friend nodded in solidarity. “It’s just too much.”

Yes. This happened.

And yes, my observation, though verbatim, is full of judgment.

But here’s the thing: the concert is not the problem.

The over-scheduled kids is the problem. The inability to say no is the problem.

Or, at least, the inability to say no to the right thing.

What a privilege to be able to afford all those sports, those tickets, even those trendy pants.

No, truly, it’s a privilege. An honored life.

But the over abundance of ability can sometimes cause what I call “bliss burnout.”

She has bliss burnout. And she thinks that the key is to say no to the thing that actually would be a blessing in the middle of craziness: a concert.

But the true remedy is to get out of the bliss-induced cycle.

Don’t play all the sports. Have unstructured play sometimes.

Don’t do all the things. Do some things, and just do them really well.

No one should ever, over a latte, bemoan the busy schedule of their choosing.

Bliss Burnout is real. It’s a spiritual issue. A physical issue. And economic issue. Maybe, even, a moral one.

Get out of it and watch yourself be blessed instead.