Have you been idling?
Not exactly being non-productive but not entirely proactive? Those sorts of half state where ideas come and go but never take shape. Plans are in the mind but stuck very firmly in the back. Life goes on but it lacks the drive we normally throw at it or would like to.
It isn’t an entirely bad thing if neutral is a pause.
Taking a break is therapeutic and so necessary to recalibrate. The problem comes when the break leads to a permanent malaise. It happens slowly and it becomes more about putting off than doing. Days stretch to weeks, excuses multiply and make total sense and we talk ourselves around with sound reason. Slowly but surely we are complacent and that’s when it is hard to shift gears and move forward.
A slow process that starts without intention can sap us of our enthusiasm and joie de vivre.
I believe we have to work hard to stay engaged and face challenges as we age.
It is so much easier to let things “slide’ or “take it easy”. Not really. We will never feel better than when we try and when we accomplish; the results are not the key, it is the doing.
Activity, not passivity is the answer to everything.
Easier said than done, right?
I feel like idling some days, no, many days and if I stay put too long I do find it hard to get going again. It is the same for me physically as mentally. when I miss my yoga or training for two weeks it is as if those practices existed in another life, I barely remember them. Getting back and starting again is a challenge. The same applies to work. I have taken time away from writing this summer and I feel it. My words are rusty and not flowing as I want. Time and sentences rough along not rub along.
What is the answer?
There is no easy solution. I push myself to where I want to be. Sometimes it takes willpower and the strongest determination. I book my classes and make myself go to yoga – and it isn’t that I don’t love and appreciate my practice – it is a case of the mind is willing but the follow-through is lost. Yes, it is hard and I don’t like my first few sessions but getting there is the battle. 90% of the hard work is making it there.
The same applies to everything else. Making a start is the answer. We don’t have to have all the solutions on day 1, they will come, but waiting to find the answers before beginning is the fastest way to stay paralyzed.
When I am in my “slow-mo” stage I accept it as a necessary time. I see this idling as a positive and a time to refresh. But as soon as ‘my’ tell-tale signs appear and I know my relaxed pace has switched to one dangerously close to permanence, I am on it.
Time and understanding have taught me this.
Know your tell-tale signs; these are not to be avoided.
They can be small and not so – as simple as too many diary cancellations and as grand as too much mental reflection. You will recognise them; they are old friends. As charming and attractive as they may be, fight them hard and push forward.
Our time to do now, is everything. xv
This Might Gear Me Up
tie dye sweatshirt || oversize bubble sleeve sweatshirt || soho crewneck || urban cargo pants || studio pants
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images, marta dyks, graham dunn for anthropologie spring 2019
