I was thinking about the new article for such a long time that it ended up with a “creative” break for couple of months. Nevertheless, many things had happened, and I needed some time to process all my emotions, but here I am with new thoughts. This time I’d like to talk about the trend that is surrounding us for the past few years – motivational quotes.
Most of you have probably seen sentences like: “When you can’t anymore, speed up” or “When you think you’re done, you can still carry much more”, “It’s not the load that drags you down, but it’s the way you carry it.” I could go on for a really long time. But let’s be honest here. How many times you read them and felt like punching the screen or shouting, “Shut the f*ck up!”? I felt like this many, many times.
I’m not saying that I wasn’t one of those, who shared these quotes and tried to live by them. But soon enough I also found out that it’s not that easy to keep up with the speed if we want to preserve our good mental health. Let me describe it with an example of a car. Imagine that you’re driving, and you start pushing the gas paddle. The speed is rising, and the clock shows high numbers. Even the wind steps aside and you feel so free. Everything is possible. But some kind of control light starts blinking and the car is slowing down. You keep pushing the gas, but the car just stops, and a huge cloud of smoke appears around the car. Your engine broke down. Exploded.
And now try to imagine yourself at the position of that car. From my own experience I know, that when you never stop speeding, at certain point, you’ll explode. We’re told that this is life, never-ending race and living from one day to another even though you’re feeling like a zombie. Sometimes it’s just better to acknowledge that it’s time to slow down. Maybe even stop and rest a bit. Cry a little or complain. If talking to others helps, do it. But I’d suggest telling that person that you’re not looking for ‘words of wisdom’, just for a listening ear (otherwise it can end up with a very bad and unnecessary fight).
I can’t really guarantee you what will help as I’m not any kind of specialist. Everybody needs something different. Though, try to stop on time. And if it’s late already, it’s ok. Put everything aside and take a day off, go for a walk, draw, stare at the wall, listen to good music, or sit in a quiet place, dance, sing, work out, find help in specialist… Do whatever you need to do in order to feel better. However, the most important thing is – stop pointlessly speeding up!
End note: There are quotes and there are quotes.
Comments