Do you feel the blues sometimes? The feeling of being unmotivated and uninspired to do absolutely anything? How do you handle your blues? Do you just let yourself rest through it or do you push yourself to be productive even when you really don't feel like it?
I had the blues yesterday. I did literally nothing the whole day, except cooked dinner and did a load of washing. Lets be brutally honest: I laid on the couch the whole day watching series and movies. You can tell that I tried to push myself in the morning since my cosmetic bag was out on the desk and my gym clothes on the couch ready to go - but instead I folded them back to the closet in the evening when the gym had already closed. I wasn't feeling particularly sad about anything and nothing special had happened. No stress, no poor night sleeps, no sore muscles or feeling a flu coming. No social drama or worrying for anyone. There was absolutely no reason for my blues.
I couldn't help but thinking that I hadn't earned the rest. And that I only had two days off before working for four days, then adventuring with the ball of energy called Josh for four days and then working for four days again before my next few days off. I only had these two days to be productive. Because of this limited time I felt even worse about being such a couch potato and getting absolutely nothing done. In the evening I had a video call with Josh (who was away working on a mine site) and he made me feel so much better by telling me to listen to myself and respect my needs, no matter the reasoning behind it. It's okay to feel useless sometimes and just rest. The morning will come and you'll have a chance to start over.
And he was right. I made a to do list for the next day after our chat. A very simple one; just things I enjoyed doing and didn't require too much effort. And in an order I was supposed to do them:
Drink water
Charge your phone (I always forget this!)
Have a shower
Pack your bag (laptop, journal, gym clothes)
Go to a cafe for brekkie
Edit videos
Gym
Cook
Shower
Sleep
And what do you know! I wasn't feeling very motivated in the morning but I started following my to do list immediately after waking up and all of sudden found myself sitting in a cafe and done already half of my list - and there is even a little spark of inspiration waking up in me!
I hope you'll have a great day wherever you are - on the couch or on top of a mountain! Know that there is no pressure of being productive. Resting is okay too. The inspiration will come back. And when you get in the flow - enjoy the ride!
-Heli