Burned Out, Checked Out, and Closer Than You Think

There are some days - some weeks even - you just don’t care.

You’re feeling exhausted, drained, more fried than if Burning Man was held in Chernobyl. You have a to-do list you keep telling your shelf you should get to… and you keep shoulding over yourself.

But the weight of not giving a damn has gotten so heavy that your apathy could be riding a motorized scooter in pajamas at Walmart.

Fight or flight has turned into Netflix and chill. Or worse, Netflix and f**k it.

What got you here?

Let’s be honest.

Maybe you didn’t “manifest this.” Or maybe you did.

It doesn't make any difference. What does is how do you bounce back?

Look, what’s happening is your body - and your mind for that matter - isn’t being lazy. It’s negotiating its survival. It’s saying doing nothing, and not caring, feels more comfortable and safer than having to stretch, or push a little further, or take some action that feels foreign.

But here’s the secret nobody puts in the self-help brochure:

You don’t bounce back by doing more. You bounce back by doing one thing differently.

And usually, that’s something you don’t even have to move your body to do. It’s just a thought. A perspective. Looking at life through a momentary lens that paints the image of, “I’ve got this. I can do this.”

That’s it. No big moment. Just a small crack in the gray. One thought of seeing yourself differently. One daydream of imagining your life differently.

What’s the difference between 99°C and 100°C? Water boils. Just one degree difference.

Sure, maybe your heart feels like it’s at the freezing point. But thinking one thought differently - or canceling one thought, improving one thought, in one moment - can get you one degree closer to melting, and one degree closer to boiling.

Maybe you think life is still going to suck tomorrow.

But if you think one small thought differently today, that can be the butterfly effect. You thought about actually getting dressed. That leads you to get dressed. Because you were dressed, you left the house.

Because you left the house, you had a pleasant exchange with someone. That raised your spirits. You felt a little more positive. Because you felt a little better off, maybe a bit more hopeful or encouraged, when you came home, you had a little more energy.

Having a little more energy gave you the encouragement to tackle one thing on your to-do list.

That’s like compound interest - only it’s compound resonance. One moment of alignment can lead to an entire day, week, month, and a lifetime of alignment.

That’s when your power stands up and walks in strides. And that fat-ass apathy’s motorized scooter can’t outrun your power.