You are tired and it’s ok
When you talk to people from all corners of the earth you can not help but find a common theme: I am tired/exhausted/ run down. And I find that very understandable
The last two, (going on three) years were not easy on anyone. In between covid, politics, Ukraine, Iran, interest rates going up, inflation awakening the ghost of Weimar . The constant catastrophizing certainly takes a toll on one’s psyche.
CNBC is featuring Dr. Doom every other day it seems , Jamie Dimon predicting a market meltdown every 48 h, the strange creatures from QAnon making public appearances, underage girls being killed in Teheran… it certainly gets to you.
A few points to consider before you reach for a bottle of absinth:
!. The world has been ending since I can read the newspaper.
There were the following disasters ( by no means a complete list):
Chernobyl, acid rain, worms in fish, antifreeze in wine, Pershing 2 missiles, Nato Doppelbeschluss, able archer, AIDS, Sandoz kills the Rhine, Crack. MTV, commies on the rise, Berlin Wall, war in Yugoslavia, hole in the ozone layer, old nazis in Argentina, young Nazis in Dresden, Y2K,, midlde eastern refugees, 9/11, Dick Cheney, Lehman collapse, Germanys worst showing at a World Cup, Covid.
And yet, we are still here and the rapture hasn’t happened.
2.Yes, Dr Doom predicted the great crash of 2008 BECAUSE he predicts a crash every year. He also missed every single bull market, if you were to invest with him, you would be bankrupt.
Historically speaking when sentiment is that bad, it usually means you are close to the bottom.
Think about it this way: the devastation of World War 2 laid the groundwork for the EU, NATO and 70+ years of peace and prosperity in Europe. Another example would be that out of the crash 2008 came Dodd Frank act which requires banks to be better capitalized and most likely prevented another meltdown.
It is completely feasible that the protests transform Iran from being called the Islamic Republic of Iran to simply the Republic of Iran and the religious terror regime will be swept away.
Find that hard to believe? Monday demonstrations in Leipzig started in late September 1989, by November the wall and the regime were gone. .
But how to stay afloat until we turn the corner?
1. Give yourself credit, it’s ok to struggle.
You are human after all and you made it through a rather long and very difficult period. The key is to understand that everyone struggles ,some just hide it better. You are by no means weird or a failure if you find life difficult at times. Nobody can expect you to be the perfect parent/partner/ employee/trainee at all times. Simply doing your best that day will suffice.
It is also fine to be tired . .
I find myself meandering around after my summer “highlights” . Post photos, I don’t really have anything to train for then I went for a vacation, had/have foot pain, an eye injection
So I adjusted my training down to 30-40 minutes a day with less intensity than I would normally have. That is plenty to maintain and I can ramp it up when needed
But do not stop everything you do because A: if the world ends, you want to be able to fight zombies and B if it doesn’t end, there is always next summer!