This Too Shall Pass

I think there was something in the air yesterday because almost everyone I ran into was having one of those days. One friend was engulfed with financial fears and contemplated selling her house before it was even 7:00 am. Another buddy I talked with was having career blues also known as “What do I want to do with the rest of my life?” syndrome, a more common affliction than I had ever realized.

I awoke in a funk.  That’s my technical term for when none of the actual a facts of my life have changed since I last checked, but I’m nonetheless swimming in uncertainty about the future and general malaise about my prospects for life.  A funk.  It really doesn’t make any logical sense. Nothing bad has happened. My bank account, health, family, work situation, or life in general hasn’t altered in any meaningful way. But I feel desperate or sad or stuck or afraid or lonely.

I’m noticing some key characteristics of these episodes, at least for me, so I thought I share them just in case it helps someone else.  First, they are usually related to me being tired– big weekend away, late nights back to back, or just tired.  By the way, tiredness I can fix.  Second, within minutes of talking to another human about what’s bugging me, I feel strangely lighter. It’s as though the feeling is too cowardly to survive in air and light. It only exists in the sometimes dark corners of my mind.  Often as I’m speaking my deepest fears aloud, they melt away and what’s left is a clear understanding that my fear was based on nothing whatsoever.

And finally, these feeling pass. My great-grandmother (Yes, we called her Biggie) had a Depression-era phrase she used with regularity–This too shall pass. I never really understood that as a kid, but these older folks are on to something here.

The arc of life is long. You won’t always feel this way, so pick up the phone, put on your Happy playlist, and keep marching. This too shall pass. It always does.