A Blog Post For Those Ready To Be Honest

There aren’t many feelings sadder than the one I’m about to describe.

You have one job, take care of yourself, and you feel like you’re failing miserably at it. You’re constantly preoccupied with yourself yet somehow you can’t bring yourself to make necessary and beneficial changes. It’s just this cloud of resistance that hangs over your head every single day — a fog that never seems to lift. Eventually, you start to lose hope that it will ever lift. You just have to live with this never-ending, moderate yet persistent, state of anxiety. I wish I could tell you it’ll all be okay and that these feelings will fade, but all available data says you’re #$%#@!.

You should still try, though, because what other viable option do you have? Get back on the plate and swing, even if you’ve struck out 1,000 times.

Many people get caught in a constant loop of venting and complaining, which creates an identity of helplessness and moves them further away from an overall improved mental state. Negative feelings aren’t always bad, per se. They’re just negative. They’re signs for action. Stop trying to change the way you feel and start trying to change the things you do.

A Simple Habit That Can Change Your Life

Not only does this habit help you work through your issues, but it’s also been known to spark high levels of creativity. Some of the most influential thinkers, inventors, and artists swear by it. So what’s this magical habit?

Going for a walk.

No phone, no watch, nothing to indicate anything about time or the outside world, just you and the path. Regardless of how you feel before the walk, you will feel better after it. The reasons why walks are beneficial are obvious, but they’re worth stating because we’re in this society that has over-complicated solutions: You need to go outside and get fresh air. This seems basic, but many people skip this basic step for both physical and mental health that it needs to be said.

You need a break from all the stimuli in modern society. Physical and mental health are correlated. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You need to move your body, period. And walking is an activity basically all able-bodied people can do. Walking without distraction is like meditation. You have two choices — engage fully in the present moment or work through the thoughts in your head because you have no choice. You’ll do a combination of both. And there’s just something about the environment and the behavior that gives you insights you can’t find elsewhere. A mass return to nature could probably make huge progress in fixing the state of society.

Society continues to trend toward a victimhood narrative and it’s not helping anyone. There’s a difference between being victimized and self-identifying as a victim. The system victimizes every last one of us in one way or another. Societies are built to constrain the freedoms of individuals, laws disproportionately affect different groups of people, and the mix of incentives and human nature leads to situations that harm others. That being said, you get to choose what negative situations mean to you. You can identify with the bad circumstances in your life or you can try to succeed in spite of them. Also, it’s up to you to decide which narrative is true.

Are you a victim? Are you oppressed? Or are you being tricked into thinking this way? Only you know the answer.

You can try to rationalize your way out of the truth, but the truth has this annoying tendency to stick in the back of your mind no matter how hard you try to push it down. Sometimes the scariest realization is the realization that you’re free, that no one is in your way but yourself, and that your level of personal responsibility dictates your success more than the outside world does.

The biggest fix for the mental health of many people in society is just getting their shit together. Try getting your shit together first before coming up with this elaborate explanation for why you’re unhappy. Do whatever ‘that thing’ is, that thing you’ve been wanting to do for a while. Keep doing it. Never stop doing it.

Will this cure all your anxiety, stress, and doubt? No. But it will make a hell of a dent.

These truths reveal themselves to you once you get on your path and stay on it. You know it’s true, so just do it.

Win The Day!