Four Things I Wish I Remembered When I Was in a Funk
Read this and breathe easy.
One of the things we forget to be grateful for is that we gain a better understanding of our lives and experiences as the years go by. We can now name them as vocabulary improves to explain the formerly lesser-understood phenomenon. One of those is a funk. In the past, I just knew there were times when my drive was low, I felt sadder than usual and things generally felt hopeless.
With time, I have learned better ways of managing these bouts of funk. In her Newsletter, Mindmine, Isabel said in a funk, the world looks less colourful, and more bleak, things that usually feel easy suddenly feel super hard, and negative thoughts that rarely swim into your consciousness flood your mind.
2022 was an awesome year for me. I did work I was proud of. Then the new year started and I had plans of what to achieve and the work that needed to be done. Part of this was to plan my content for the first quarter ahead.
To start this work felt like a herculean task. I suddenly lost energy and even when I tried to push through, I was just confused about what to create. The hum seized.
As I tried to diagnose what might be wrong, I thought to myself, you worked all through December, maybe you should just take a break. I took the break and after January, I expected a shift, but the hum didn’t start buzzing.
Then I found out, “Oh! We’ve been in mercury retrograde”. Not that I fully understand what that meant but I would take any explanation at this point. The long and short is that when mercury is in retrograde, energy is just generally low and it feels like you are working against the tide.
Well, mercury stopped retrograding around February, and this fog is not clearing. Harmattan wasn’t clearing in February.
It became a deep source of worry, though less worrying than the funk last year because of less guilt and more forgiving.
However, as the fog clears, here are some of the things I wish I remembered:
- Breathe: Whenever you feel like you are in a funk and can’t get out, no matter how long it takes, breathe because it’ll pass. I thought I won’t be able to muster the energy to achieve my dreams, I forgot to just breathe because nothing stays the same. I still had guilt — life requires consistency, and if I am in a funk for too long then am I ready to be successful?
- Recognize little efforts: Some things would still demand your attention and even though you are not performing at optimum, recognize the work you are doing despite it.
- Feel your feelings: Allow yourself to feel your feelings. When you feel like the world is against you, don’t try to push it away or guilt-trip yourself for feeling that way.
- Read/consume work you created before: This is an advice I didn’t follow. But it works. At least you remember to be proud of yourself
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