Fragility of Enthusiasm
High energy to feeling blue in one small step
When I take care of myself, I feel good. My energy levels shoot through the roof, and I become able to do lots of things while barely exerting myself. This is a very pleasant state of being, it feels powerful and full of life.
When in this state, it’s easy to get attached to the results I’m able to produce.1 The speed at which I can write blogs, the weight I can lift or the sick meditation routine habit stack I’m keeping up.
Once I get attached to being able to produce wonderful results, I start forgetting to take care of myself properly. Pushing a bit harder. Getting things done even if I don’t feel like it. Doing instead of resting.
Forgetting that self-care and happiness is the foundation from which I act.
This can go on for a little while, after which I drop. Joy and bountiful energy turn into the blues, a low-energy state where it’s hard to get even the basics done. I procrastinate cooking, struggle to get out of bed,2 and skip workouts.
Recovering from low-energy states requires finding my way back to self-care. The parts of that love acheivment3 struggle with accepting this, they just want to go back to achieving.4
This fragility of enthusiasm creates a kind of horseshoe effect, where high levels of well-being is surprisingly close to the blues. It’s easy to grow overconfident and careless when I feel invulnerable, on top of the world. Reminding myself of the fragility of my enthusiasm is one way I stay focused.
“Getting attached” to results is a sure way to forget what’s important. In the Stoic view, results are a side-effect of what really matters: how I relate, react and choose. The things happening inside of my head as I navigate the world and my relationships with others.
When I go from a careful5 way of being to a careless way of being, I start putting meaning and attention on outcomes, rather than the causes. When I lose track of my way of being,6 it’s easy to get sucked into thinking traps, losing touch with what matters.
One thing I am trying out right now is a twice-daily check-in, using an app that asks me about my current state of mind, what I’ve been up to, my energy levels etc. This is a good way for me to compensate for my tendency to hyper-focus on projects.7
Another useful tool from Stoicism is “negative visualization”.8 Whenever I feel like I’m invincible, I try to spend a few minutes thinking about all the ways things can turn challenging.9 I might get sick or hurt myself. People close to me might get angry at me, or judge me.10
When I really feel into these scenarios, without trying to avoid them or repress thoughts, they start feeling real to me without feeling overpowering. I can imagine myself in the scenarios while staying calm. The calmness comes from knowing that I would be able to face the situations and that I have the resources and skills I need.11 From this calm state, I can prepare myself for challenges that might arise.
Making the challenges feel real is a good way for me to step up my game and start taking things seriously, removing overconfidence without pulling me down.
To Summarize
Fragile Enthusiasm is a danger for those of us that get sucked up in high-energy states, forgetting to take care of ourselves properly.
I’m exploring this topic in my life, trying my best not to exhaust myself, by reminding myself that:
Enthusiasm is a small step from feeling down. I need to take care of myself even if I feel invulnerable
Challenging things can happen at any point, negative visualisation can help me remember this.
I can get my phone to help me check in with myself.
Hope you liked this post! If you know someone else that needs a reminder about the importance of self-care and balance, feel free to share this post with them. I’m also curious to hear your reflections, feedback or similar. So I made this google form, feel free to fill it in.
Last time I asked people to share there was a definite bump in subscribers. In the past, I’ve been a bit too proud to ask for help. But yeah, pride comes before the fall, so let’s go!
Please share this post with your old teachers, distant cousins, political opponents and the weirdest person in your extended social circle.
This is an instance of a more general kind of unskillfulness, “results instead of process”. Google “process thinking” for more.
I’m considering making a post on the topic of “getting out of bed”
I first wrote “Achievement-oriented performance-anxious parts” :D
It’s like those parts of me get the relationship between feeling good and achieving backwards.
“Careful” as in cautious AND “full of care”
“my way of being”= if my actions and state of mind are in accordance with my virtue and principles.
It’s called Bearable. I’m using the free tier, doing my best to ignore the premium-nudging. If anyone knows about a pay-once app, I’d be delighted.
It’s like the law of attraction if you’re a masochist
They knew about this shit back in Rome. When they threw big parties celebrating sucessful military commanders, they had a slave following the commander whispering “memento mori”, translated as “remember that you are mortal”. (source: Wikipedia)
Pretty unlikely, you’re all a bunch of sweethearts <3
Well, I hope I won’t have to handle things like torture, even though I do know Stoicism has been literally battle-tested.