IT was hard to know where exactly the column would go this week. Quite a few things had happened worth talking about, and though to be spoiled for choice is quite a harmless problem to have, it is still a problem.
But in the end I decided to go with my gut, or rather, what has been spoiling my gut as of late. Something I’d like to call the natural cycle.
As we all know, it is impossible to remain on top forever, regardless of what field or situation it is. Just as gravity is inevitable, what goes up must come down. And as of late I have come down.
Sometimes, it is difficult to know the cause for the ills and burdens we carry in life. Sometimes they come out of the blue – just one moment, and suddenly we are far flung from the peak, languishing at the bottom of the mountain.
Everyone has these moments. No machine, no matter how efficient, will be able to run at full capacity forever without breaking itself down. The same applies even more to living creatures.
So it is inevitable that each person will have their come-down moments, whatever the factors or variables there may be that influence that or cause it.
I am not a professional by any means, and so I am unfortunately unable to provide courses of action for dealing with the times when the stress gets to us, when we are the smallest doll in a matryoshka doll cast out into the harsh world outside.
But what I can say is that when the time arrives, it is important to keep as clear a mind as possible. Difficult, yes, given that the entire point of being on the down is that your mental state is in shambles, but control over the self is a thing that can be developed. I myself am unfortunately not at that point yet, so it may make my words seem moot, but it is definitely possible.
Not that we are aiming to suppress our emotions to deaden them, of course. Life would hardly be memorable without its bittersweet flavor, taken from moment to moment of memory. What we are trying for is to develop enough control over the self that when the inevitable crash happens we are able to soften the fall. Keep functioning, and put ourselves back on the track to recovery to a quote-unquote normal state.
There are many different ways to do this, and professional help would doubtless be able to provide even more. For myself, I find that the biggest factor is time – as it flows, it eases all back to the state of normalcy. Everything cools down with time.
But people are varied and different. Such is the appeal of humanity. So it stands to reason that each person will have different methods to yank themselves back upright after being knocked down. Some would be like me and rely on the passage of time to recover, while others may have different routines and rituals for recovery.
It matters not. What matters is that we as individuals learn our own methods that work for us, to keep ourselves whole. As long as the method harms no one, then it ought to be considered valid.
This is the crux of the matter – we must find ways to keep pushing ourselves along even when times get rough. But of course, we cannot overstate the necessity of the occasional rest. Life is a difficult road, and sometimes it gets tough to walk.
Find for yourself a roadside stop, take a few drinks, remember a few moments, and when time is up, keep walking.
