Do Something

I got a call from an old friend a couple weeks ago.  While we probably don’t talk as often as we should, we always seem to be able to pick up right where we left off.  Something was different about this conversation, though. He seemed a little down, which was uncharacteristic of his usual upbeat demeanor.  Finally I called him on it.

“So what’s going on?” I said.

He paused for a moment, then, “Nothing, really.”

“Nothing, really?”  I paused. “Don’t bullshit me, man.  I've known you for twenty-five years.”

He let out a long sigh, then started telling me what was really going on.

He was considering leaving his job of fifteen years.  He said he could handle the unsatisfying drudgery (and had for years), but now he had a supervisor, who from the sound of it, was pretty much a textbook sociopath.  His relationship had degenerated into constant arguments and backbiting.
Etc.

Etc.

“I just go home and drink beer and watch TV,” he said.  Then after a pause: “I’m starting to hate my life.”

His words hung there for a moment.  I know there was a subtext of help me out here, buddy.

I’ve fallen into similar funks myself and the way out of it always comes down to this:

Take action.

Do something.

Do anything.  It almost doesn't matter what.

The point is to take action and show this gray mood who’s boss.  You take control of a little piece of your life.  You feel like you've accomplished something.  In the battle of your day, you've secured a beachhead from the enemy, even if it’s a little one.

The key is to keep going, gain momentum and take back more territory from your enemy.  Make sure you get a win (even a little) everyday.  Soon the wins will get bigger and start to build on one another.
That, my friends, is how you start to turn things around.

Next time, I’ll get into a more detail on what I suggested to my friend.