One quality of the path the Lord has given me is to live a life of almost constant sleep deprivation. Sparing you the many causes and effects of this, suffice it to say that living life on an average of 5 hours of sleep per night is drastically different than living a life with 7 or more hours of sleep.
As with so many other afflictions, while the challenges never soften, their newness does. Crawling forward each day might be so intense it feels like a month of life packed into just 19 hours, but the consistency of difficulty from one day to another at least makes it familiar.
Once in a great while, maybe every month or two, I will sleep for 8 hours. On those rare days, I feel and think so substantially better that it is as if I am living another person's life in another person's body. I feel like I could run through a wall and not even feel it. I am filled with reasons why it would not benefit the world, for now, to be like this every day, and yet I rejoice to have the ability to accurately anticipate when the day comes that this chain is cut off from me. I have the key to this cell, but I remain a prisoner for the sake of other prisoners.
I carry many such chains, and for each one of them I can describe in great detail what it will be like when those chains are cut. I know what will change for me and for others. I am already living the way I need to so that the cutting of those chains will result in commensurate increases in good.
What chains bind you? What burdens do you carry? Have you enumerated the challenges you face in life that affect what you can and can't do? What would you do if they were cut?
Sometimes, as in my case, the chains are crosses we are called to bear in order to help others. More often, those chains are weaknesses God gives in order to provide us with the opportunity to learn and do what will provide us with greater joy after the chains are cut. These kinds of chains are designed to give us sufficient reason to learn more about and from God, and to live more like him than we otherwise would:
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. (Ether 12:27)
What would you do if you had far more time? One of these chains that I have previously mentioned is the need to work for a living. The curse of Adam will be lifted on a global level, but it can be broken at the individual level, too, and won't be lifted on a global level until each individual left has broken it on their level. What you choose to do on the Sabbath is your demonstration of whether you are prepared for that chain to be broken. For almost all people, having the chain of earning one's bread by the sweat of their brow would only result in them using the extra time for fleeting pleasures. Until we learn that the greatest joy only comes from pursuing God's purpose with all our heart, might, mind, and strength, the need to work for money is a blessing. There are other blessings to Adam's curse, such as providing us with an upper bound on life's intensity, as work provides a much-needed distraction from the less predictable and far more intense waves of ideas and emotions that flow to those who more directly serve God. If you want more time, use the time you have toward better ends, and get more accustomed to walking in the intensity of God's light.
What would you do if you had far more money? Just like time, most people squander what they do have, and if given more, would only squander it even more. What good would this do? Find ways to spend your money that result in greater value, and you will give God more reasons to give you more.
What would you do if you had far more eloquence and articulacy? What you do with the language capabilities you already have? Outside of work, you probably just use it for small talk. What good would it do for God to give you greater language capabilities? Find ways to use the language capabilities you have to help others more than you do, and you will give God more reasons to give you more.
What would you do with greater intelligence? Most people use what intelligence they have for getting gain and for hiding their sins, and would use more of it to do more of the same. Use the intelligence you have to more thoroughly access and analyze the information you already have access to, and you will give God more reasons to give you more.
We could continue down the list of all human properties. God will give you more and better inputs as you use what you already have for more and better outputs.
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. (Luke 16:10, NRSV)
This discussion is just one facet of a very important principle: In order to receive a promised land, you need to already be living the law that pertains to it. If you would seek for God to cut your chains, first seek to learn and live how you would need to in order for its removal to result in commensurate good.