Do I ever have down days; days where I feel low-energy and uninspired?

I literally got asked this on stage a few weeks ago, and I answered truthfully…

“Although I do have down days, I’m fortunate to say that I don’t have too many”

?As luck (and karma) would have it, a few days after announcing this from stage to a crowd of corporates all taking notes on how to boost their own mental health and feeling of engagement and purpose in life, I started a string of 9 days that have left me feeling completely flat and uninspired!??For over a week now, I haven’t felt like working or exercising, and I’ve been sleeping in every single day!

Hands up if you’ve experienced this lately? I don’t think I’m alone.

When we feel ‘off’ like this, and generally flat, everything seems like effort and although we intellectually understand that a positive action such as exercise, a healthy meal or a needed conversation may be beneficial to us, we tend to avoid it.?

Why??

Put simply; because we can.?

In a weird display of lazy sadomasochism; we justify to ourselves that the avoidance of a positive action (a run, a healthy mean or a conversation) won’t kill us and therefore, as a way to save effort, we happily deny positive action (because it’s easier), instead choosing to maintain our state of effortless and bearable suffering.

It’s like walking with a painful pebble in your shoe, but instead of stopping to take your shoe off and shaking the pebble out, we choose to continue walking in pain, because it requires less proactivity.

This brings me to yesterday.?

In an attempt to feel better, I decided it was finally time to practice what I preach and take action in two very simple ways; by simply making a phone call and then taking 1 positive action (even though I don’t feel like it!).

Why?

There are many things we can do as people to shift our mindset, most of them related to action, but the two techniques I decided to use revolved around community and routine.?

Community:

We need to surround ourselves with positive people and groups who lift us up. Whether in our professional or personal communities, we need to feel inspired by who we align with. It’s crucial that within these communities, everyone feels valued. By this, I mean people simply need to be seen, heard and understood.

I’m fortunate to say that over the years I’ve been able to create an incredible group of friends who light me up. These friends show up regularly (if not daily) in my gratitude journal. Yesterday, although I felt like being alone, I picked up the phone to call a few friends and even ventured outside to have a coffee with someone. The conversation, the listening, the sharing and feeling of connection was profound. Through simple conversation, I feel noticeably better.?

Routine:

Although perhaps a little cliche, creating a schedule of things (or ‘thing’) that you enjoy doing alleviates the effort of making decisions on what we should do next and in fact offers natural structure to a day. With no thought, routine sub consciously appeals to the ‘doer’ in all of us, and sneakily encourages us to take action on something with ease.?

Additionally, telling ourselves that we will do just one thing at a certain time puts an ‘event’ in our day that allows us to feel the a sense of purpose.?

Yesterday, for me, I decided to sit down in front of my piano and start practicing a song that I haven’t given any attention to for the best part of a year. Number 67 on my bucket list is to learn a classical piano piece and if the truth be told, it hasn’t progressed (in fact, it’s got worse) since beginning this journey two and a half years ago.?

As I type this newsletter on my laptop, the day after taking the above action, I can say with my hand on my heart that I feel 100 times better than I did yesterday morning and all it took was a few conversations and a commitment to a goal that lights me up. I in fact felt so inspired that this morning I took 5 minutes to play more piano before I started work, and felt alive.

Now, of course there are so many other things that we can also do to drag ourselves out of a funk, but the reason I write this is to say that sometimes all it takes is one or two things, simple things at that!

If you’re reading this and feeling a little funky and low energy, perhaps all you need to do is call up your friend and have a fun conversation. Once you’ve done that, commit to starting a simple routine towards something that inspires you.?

If you want to learn more techniques, please email or of course just keep tuning into these updates. I’m having fun finding my voice in these newsletter and all your thoughts and feedback are welcome.?

?Thanks for listening!

Online Course: I need 6 people to test my new course with!

During Covid, we released an online course that we called the 'Live Your List Process'.

At a high-level, the Live Your List Process facilitated a process that allowed people to create and activate their most meaningful goals in life. Think 'Bucket List' with a holistic?approach that uses self-awareness, fearlessness and purpose as the?driving force for growth, achievement?and connection.?

With that said, after three years of this course sitting dormant on a website that I no longer promote, I've decided to bring it back to life with new content that I've developed over the last few years with the ambition to start a thriving community of people all living their best lives and helping each other at the same time.?

As part of this re-creation, I am going to test the?new framework with 6 people. From this, I can get real feedback which ultimately will allow me to refine this awesome product and bring it to life.

So, can you help me..... please?

If you'd like to be one of the 6 individuals who will help me test the course, please submit your full name and email address and I'll be in touch soon with more information.?

If selected, we will arrange a 90 minute zoom call for you, me and 5 others to go through the course together. I will teach it and you will judge it. Easy!

Until next time,?

Thanks,?

?

Seb