319: in a funk? 5 (annoyingly simple) ways to get out of it

Here's what you're gonna do to get out of a funk.

Like, we're just gonna cut to the chase because we've got a lot to talk about today.

Step one, you're gonna let yourself feel the funk.

Like, let yourself feel your feelings for a second.

All right? As people recovering from hustle culture, we are problem solvers.

Okay? We want to fix things.

But when it comes to getting out of a funk, I think it's so important for us to give ourselves some time and space to just wallow a little bit.

Okay? One of the reasons that funks drag on way longer than they need to is because we fight them.

We feel off and then immediately go into fix-it mode.

We tell ourselves that we shouldn't feel this way.

We tell ourselves we don't have time to feel this way.

We try to force productivity.

We guilt ourselves for not being more grateful or more motivated or more whatever, and all of that internal resistance makes it so much worse.

If you're a fellow Gilmore Girls fan, you know that episode where Dean and Rory break up, and she makes this list of things to do to try and keep her busy so that she isn't thinking about how sad she is.

But Lorelai is like, "Rory, chill for a sec and let yourself wallow for a little bit." But Rory is like, "No," like, "Absolutely not.

There are things to be done.

Let's go." Like, "Let's be productive.

Let's check all of these things off of this crazy list that I made." We all know how that went, right? Rory tried to skip wallowing and go right into fix-it mode, and she crashed and burned, and she ended up wallowing anyway.

So that's why we're starting with some good old-fashioned wallowing for step one.

Give yourself a chunk of predetermined time to be down without fixing anything.

This is not open-ended wallowing, though.

Okay? It's predetermined wallowing.

A wallowing container, if you will.

Okay? So maybe you need 10 minutes or maybe you need a full day.

It probably depends on the root of the funk.