How to Be a Fountain of Life, Not a Drain on Humanity.

There’s a lot to feel frustrated and exhausted with right now. This year, 2020, has brought an entire world to its knees. With a worldwide pandemic, many have experienced some form of lockdown; children have been homeschooled while their parents either work from home or job-hunt from home (having been laid off or furloughed); any outing, including grocery shopping, requires a face covering; children can’t visit their elderly parents, and many are facing uncertainty.

While times are even more stringent than usual, people's feelings aren't much different than they were before.

Before COVID-19, lockdown and social distancing measures, many people felt drained anyway. They lived endlessly busy lives where they worked non-stop; answering emails from the dinner table and leaving their children to answer an “important call” at 7 pm.

They’d review their work emails from the moment they woke up and abide their over-crammed schedules filled with long meetings which lead to circular and unprogressive discussions.

When they finally did take a break from work to catch-up with a friend over coffee or their partner with a glass of wine, they’d just rant about how busy they were. The kids are too much, the boss is being too hard, the new guy at work is useless, their best friend is being a bridezilla.

Even before the global pandemic, many lives were filled with dramas, stressors and woes that were emotionally draining for everyone involved.

People make their lives needlessly busy and stressful to feel relevant. But this pursuit of busyness results in individuals becoming a drain in life, for themselves and those around them.

Feeling tired from hard work is natural, but feeling drained by life and everything you do is a sign that you’re investing your energy into meaningless and unfruitful pursuits.

Making a difference in the world requires meaningful productivity. It’s not dependent on answering as many emails as possible, waking up at 5 am, or years worth of clean eating.

The world doesn’t care how much money you make or how popular you are—it only cares about your contribution. Making a tangible difference means demonstrating generosity, maintaining your integrity, and showing a willingness to learn, help and grow.

Transforming into a fountain of life doesn’t mean suppressing or ignoring your negative emotions, but instead using them to feel driven and to see potential in the world.

If you recognise yourself as someone who feels drained, you have the chance now to reevaluate your priorities in life and determine what you want out of life and how you want to contribute to the world around you.

• What mark do you want to leave?
• Who do you want to make the world a better place for?
• How do you want to make the world a better place?

You are more than just the emails you send, the money you make, and the dramas you get yourself involved in. Your life has potential beyond your inbox, your work history, and your exercise regime.

These things are good, but they’re not your legacy. They don’t make the world a better place, and they don’t inspire those around you to better their lives for the sake of the world.

As you look back on this year, reflect on who you want to be when you come out of it. There are just three months left of 2020. What are you going to do with the time you have left?

This article first appeared on the Kain Ramsay blog at kainramsay.com.

Kain Ramsay is the top-ranked psychology and personal growth instructor at Udemy and co-founder of Achology.com, an academy devoted to teaching modern methods and principles of applied psychology. Known for his trademark teaching style, Kain delivers highly sought-after programs that include Mindfulness, Life Coaching, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. In 2018, he partnered with world-renowned author Gerard Egan to produce an online adaptation of Egan’s international bestselling book, The Skilled Helper.