Sometimes You Just Have To

I would on occasion work with probationers who could just grit their teeth and do what had to be done. They often worked mundane, unfulfilling jobs, for little money, or had to complete mandated programs and services that were neither focused on them or their needs. They would tell me that they knew if they kept at it, things would improve. Sometimes it did and they would move on to something better.

I was always impressed by those people who could keep going, day by day, no matter how uninspiring their situation was at the time. But the key part of their success was their persistence and willingness to deal with the mundane to get to the good.

Sometimes, actually often, you will find yourself doing things just because you have to do them.

This can feel mundane, boring, at times worthless, or even life sucking. However, these things are part of living and you will need to face them day to day.

You have to remember that much of living is repetitive actions.

You get up, go to work, go home, take care of someone or something else, vegetate, then repeat. Over and over, day in day out. Very little emotion or thought given to these actions, other then the sometimes creeping feelings of uselessness or futility. In all likelihood that job is something you don’t particularly care for or about. Your home is less than you expected. The people or creatures in your life lack appreciation. The games, television and activities that are distractions seem inane, ridiculous and worthless.

While this tedious existence can feel like there is no hope or reason for continuing, unfortunately this is something we all have to deal with. You have to remember that without the money, benefits, social networks, or whatever else is gained from your job, or the ability to be out of the world and the elements in your home, or being with the people and others you care about or need you, or the distractions that free your mind for a moment, you will find yourself being less, having less, and feeling less as a person.

Now, does this mean you are stuck in place with no room for change? No, of course not. You drive where it is you want to go, what you want to be, or what you want to do. However, no matter what you do, you will find yourself involved in mundane, repetitive processes that suck the joy from your life in some way. Keep that in mind.

No matter what you do, no matter how much what you’re doing is what you want, something will suck. Something in it will feel repetitive, boring and inane.

Repetitive, boring, and inane, these states of feeling are all part of life. They are not the fun aspects of life, or what you believe life should be. But, you need to work through and complete these types of tasks in order to achieve. Not everything is joy and fun. In fact, a good chunk of life falls into the - not fun - category. The sooner you understand this fact, the sooner you accept it, the easier it is to work through those boring times when you run into them.

In order to power through the repetitive parts of existence, you need to look for ways to keep yourself going.

This could mean:

• Finding the why for the work you are doing.
• Looking for the small moments of satisfaction in your work.
• Seeing how what you are doing is making some sort of difference to you and others.
• Using this effort to provide motivation to yourself to get on to the next phase in your life journey.

The key is to find the motivation in yourself to persevere, to do, to be the person who just doesn’t quit.

No matter how hard it may feel in the moment you have to keep yourself motivated and going. In the end everything you do, how you react, what you focus on, where you apply energy and effort will affect your world and future.

If you can’t learn during those times of boredom or joylessness to focus and keep going, you will never be able to focus and keep going with those things that are most important to you.

Remember, everything you do, leads right back into everything you do.