It’s exhausting.
It happens every damn day, demanding more. More attention. More energy. More to-dos. More paychecks. And more difficult decisions to make.
It’s relentless and uninhibited. Unlikable, even.
The beast: Life.
It seems to have stripped you of your last remaining supply of energy. Your will-power is at an all-time low. The afternoon sludge is worse than ever before. And even small tasks seem like insurmountable mountains.
You’re a machine, these days.
You get done what needs to be done and any leftover time is spent sitting and thinking about how tired you are, how meaningless all of it is.
Your gusto is gone…
…and you want to get it back.
You’re not the only one who wants to ask life for a refund
Everyone is getting depressed these days.
In fact, people born after 1945 are 10 times more likely to struggle with depression.
As it turns out, “these days” is playing a role in your loss of passion and decreased energy. But it’s not the yearly number that’s making a difference.
It’s the 21st century culture you’re trapped in.
According to psychologists, you’re kind of f*cked. Consider everything that works against you…
- A more sedentary lifestyle than human beings were meant for (i.e. your desk job).
- Working too many hours.
- Getting less sleep than you should every night.
- Getting too much sleep and waking up mid-rem cycle.
- Eating too many preservatives and too few veggies.
- Not spending enough time outside (need that vitamin D)
- Not spending enough time with friends.
- Not spending enough time on hobbies.
- etc, etc, etc.
Sooooooo…
How do you win?
You’re stuck inside of an era that desperately encourages mass progress at the cost of personal health — at the cost of your wellbeing.
Hell, let’s be honest, at the cost of your family’s wellbeing.
And it’s time you did something about it.
But what?
What?
Remember when you built that doghouse with your dad?
“Hand me the hammer.”
You remember it like it was the yesterday, the memory glued to your limbic system like a leach to a particularly bloated vein.
You and your dad, working on a project together. Building something.
Maybe it was a doghouse. Maybe it was a motor. Maybe it was something more intellectual, like a book or a business.
I remember when my dad was teaching me how to code on the computer, for instance. It was inspiring, invigorating, exciting.
He challenged me to create a program that produced my initials when I told it my name. Then he challenged me to build a full-fledged RPG type game with a complex stream of choice-based scenarios.
I remember spending hours on the computer, asking him questions as needed, always moving forward, always progressing.
I was lost in it.
I was lost in building it.
You were lost in building it.
Whatever “it” was — it doesn’t much matter.
What matters is that you were building something. And that is where your passion lives, in a deep recess of your soul that was meant to create, to build.
If you’re tired, depressed, sick of life…
…it’s likely because you’ve shut that desire out. You’ve choked it. Strangled it.
You’ve been told “no” more than “yes” over your lifetime and you’ve accepted defeat for what it is: a stale end to an otherwise uninteresting existence.
At least, that’s the lie you tell yourself every night.
I know better, though.
Because you’re here. You’re reading this. And you know you can get the courage to build again.
If you’re not building, you’re dying
Basic truths are simple.
They’re easy to understand and even easier to forget.
You were created. You were born. You live.
And the natural, even logical, progression of your existence is to create, to birth, to make life.
(I’m not just talking about babies, even though that can be one expression of your desire to build)
I’m talking about everything from learning a skill to creating a business to building a fence.
It’s all building.
And it’s all going to give you energy, going to inspire you, going to help you reclaim your child-like excitement for life.
Even 30 minutes a day building something new can have a massive impact on your attitude.
What if you didn’t wake up miserable tomorrow?
What if you had something to look forward to every day?
What would happen?
Well, you’d quickly turn into the man you’ve always wanted to be. One with a boyish passion to create new things, with a contagious excitement you’d pass to your kids and your wife, with a heart for helping, encouraging others, and always trying new things.
And by-damn, you’d reclaim your gusto.
Grab your hammer…
You’re tired.
You’re frustrated.
You’re careless, even.
But you know that something needs to change. You know that there’s a way to retrieve your male fervor for life. A way to enjoy life again and reclaim your passion and excitement that you had as a kid.
Now, you know how to do that.
You have to build something. Anything, really. Build a doghouse with your son. Set up a ROTH IRA and save retirement funds. Try out a new work-out plan and carve a rippling physique.
Build something new and exciting.
Even just 30 minutes per day building something you’re excited about will increase your energy levels throughout the entire day.
When you do, you’ll enjoy life again. All of it. You’ll recover your child-like excitement for life and you won’t struggle to roll out of bed everyday. Your life will have purpose and meaning.
So start building. And ignore the demons that tell you “you can’t” because you’re not good enough.
You were born to build. And life is your playground.
Mike Blankenship
Mike BlankenshipMike is a writer for SUCCESS, AdWeek, and Addicted2Success. He’s been quoted on Forbes and Entrepreneur for his expertise in marketing and personal development. He’s also the owner of Get Your Gusto Back where he helps people reignite their inner fire.