Have you had an unshakable feeling just recently, that your get up and go has, well…got up and gone?
If so, you’re not alone, as the net effect of the last two years has resulted in many more of us than would probably care to admit, feeling just a little bit ‘meh’… for want of a better word.
This slow, stealthy decline of vim and vigour, is playing out not just on our energy levels, but even on our enthusiasm and confidence in more ways that we might never have foreseen.
The problem is, however, that once ‘the funk’ has taken hold, it can be increasingly tough to shake off. Not only this, it runs the risk of mushrooming into something bigger than ‘cotton wool brain’, the more we try to paper it over with feigned enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to ‘languishing’ - as it is more widely coming to be known - but there IS certainly one big, fat ‘what not to do’ that those who can relate, ignore at their detriment.
That is, to ‘fake it till you make it.’
Never has there been such ill-founded advice, in the case of a lost mojo, than to pretend it isn’t lost in the first place.
To do so, is not only counterintuitive to the search effort, but can actually add to the sense of ‘why bother’ and the resultant isolation and stress.
Instead, honesty is almost always the best policy, especially since there are so many cases where a trusted outsider looking in, has the power, perspective and experience to instil a positivity, humour and can-do that we simply can’t cultivate ourselves. This is a reality summed up by Leadership Expert Morag Barrett, who highlighted quite rightly - YOU CAN’T TICKLE YOURSELF!
This component aside, the advantages of taking off the ‘I’m fine’ mask stem mostly from the ‘ditto’ effect that it triggers, and the relief and mindset shift that flows as a result of discovering - contrary to the lies we might have been telling ourselves - we are not alone.