This too shall pass

The highs and the lows, they don’t last. I maintain a steady upper level of positive attitude, yet I don’t live in a giddy extreme and I don’t wallow in the blahs. But I do have both.

Some people are surprised that I admit to the blahs. They know me as the joy fairy, the eternal encourager, and optimistic uplifter. That I am. I also have moments of bah humbug when I am hard on myself and think I should just chuck it all and go work at a donut shop. I did get my working girl start at age 14 at Mister Donut. Except for getting up at 4 am and getting dime tips, it was a pretty good gig.

There are days when I dance a jig around the house, proclaiming to the computer, “Damn, I AM GOOD!” I just wrote a killer piece or helped a client have a breakthrough or received feedback on how I made a difference in someone’s life. I bounce around like Tigger and blow kisses to the wind.

I love my life.

Then every once in a while, I have a low energy day. I feel zapped. I feel like a tub of goo with no brains, no tech savvy, no gumption, nothing to offer the world, oh-woe-is-me, the despair of it all. Perhaps it’s hormones, perhaps it’s the alignment of the planets and the stars and Milky Way and Three Musketeers, or perhaps I need a nap or a snack. Perhaps it’s just life.

We have days when the glow of “I’m great and I can help you see your greatness” is dim or hiding. That’s okay. Beating myself up for not being Tiggery every moment of every day doesn’t help. If you are a Head Case like me, it goes something like: “I feel a little down today. Oh dear, I know ways to lift myself up when I feel down. How dare I feel down. I know better. Come on, snap out of it! Now!” Calling myself a dummy for feeling low only makes me feel lower.

I have learned to recognize that when the blah bug bites, he only gets a tiny bit of me and the affect doesn’t last long. I know that, but when I am initially succumbing to his venom, the appeal of working at the donut shop comes back with a vengeance.

If you have moments of “I just can’t do this,” know that you are not alone and you are not the only person to feel that. Cut yourself some slack. Often the ways you know to lift yourself up will work. Enlist them. Go for a walk. Color. Get a pedicure. (We’ve shared lists before and we will again.)

Instead of trying to be Super Chick or Fabulous Fella when you are not feeling tip-top, the low energy day is a day to do other things. I always have a gazillion things to do that don’t require me to be at peak creativity. When you are feeling less than energetic, balance the checkbook, write out bills, tidy up one space of your desk/home, go through the piles of stuff that have been waiting for someday. Clip recipes, make phone calls, write all birthday cards for the month. Empty the dishwasher. Run errands.

There are tasks that you can do that don’t need your enthusiasm. You don’t have to feel on top of your game to clean up your calendar, do your expense report, or make a grocery list. You still are getting something done and the pep will return.

It does. My zapped days are infrequent. They’re replaced by the days when I zip through assignments in record time and get so much cleaned off my plate, I announce, “I’m king of the world!” like Leo in “Titanic.”

You have those days, when everything hums and grooves. Notice them. Remember them. Know that when the blah hits, it is a temporary blip and your awesomeness level will return to even keel.

We’ll talk more about our time, what we do, how to enjoy no matter what we are doing. I just wanted to uplift and encourage you – ‘cuz that’s what I do – and remind you that a down day is no big deal. Harry Emerson Fosdick said, “No one can get inner peace by pouncing on it.” Creativity and productivity are the same. Don’t force. Let it come. Your energy will return, your mood will lift and you be creating and doing and laughing and gettin’ ‘er done again.

“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” ~Pooh’s Little Instruction Book

Try a little bit of doing nothing and you’ll bounce back into doing all your somethings and feel yourself again. When the blah bug bites, remember, this too shall pass.