There are times when you feel shot out of a canon.
I call these Life’s Epiphanic Moments.
Your direction is suddenly clear–you cannot deny the risks you need to take and so you dive head-long into them. And it pays off! You achieve some momentum, you can do no wrong and then….just as you’ve cultivated enough velocity to become airborne…that old existential depression sets in. Almost as suddenly as inspiration strikes, none of it means anything.
This is a critical moment. You might even view it as a test. Do not be fooled. Stay the course. Fill the form.
Why?
Because you are at the midway point of permanent change. Of bringing something into the world that never existed before, and it is not for you to judge.
That feeling of apathy? It’s a smokescreen. What’s behind it?
Fear.
Because you might just get what you wish for. And even more will be expected of you, by yourself and everyone else. Then you’ll really have to deliver. So much safer to turn back and curl up with that cozy, familiar constant yearning….
But is it really? Of course not. So how do we negotiate such moments?
By staying awake.
You may find yourself treading water for a bit. That’s okay. Just pay attention: the recognition of fear masquerading as apathy will allow you to keep on going. There is no turning back because you realize that there is nothing to turn back to.
Whatever you are building is the vehicle conveying your purpose to the world. Paradoxically, to cease building it would be meaningless.
So please, be ever vigilant when malaise sets in. It is a pernicious force. The antidote? Get out and stay connected, but just as much, go within. Engage in whatever mindfulness training makes sense to you–yoga, meditation, TedTalks. Because in the words of the great American salesman Zig Ziggler, “People say motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing, which is why we recommend it daily.”
And unfinished business is bad for the soul.
