Darwinism May be the Key to Overcoming Stagnation
Make use of boredom and disorder to help your mind adapt effortlessly.
We all stagnate sometimes. We lose our drive and fall into autopilot; our minds drift in limbo as we trudge through our days, and we become unmotivated, bored, disillusioned. We’re always exhausted, nothing excites us, and even if our jobs keep us busy, time feels like it has stopped.
If you’re feeling stagnant now, you’re not alone — we’re all experiencing it to some degree thanks to how the pandemic has changed our lives. As a result, many of us are turning to the usual self-help methods and hacks.
My military days used to be my self-help holy grail, so I was also guilty of believing that the answer to everything is intense workouts and sheer willpower. Another popular piece of advice is to change your ‘locus of control’ — this means to appreciate and exercise control over the small things in your daily life, in order to feel less anxious and helpless.
However, while these methods are tried and true for improving our productivity and emotional state, they can’t help us overcome stagnation. Stagnation is ultimately a form of boredom. We can’t will our minds into being stimulated, and if our lives have already been reduced to Zoom meetings and nervous grocery runs…
