Latest / Wanzology / Get Outta That Rut!
Transcript
- Get Outta That Rut Time it is. It's time for another episode of WANZOLOGY. I am The Wanz, your host and, uh, happy to have you here. Happy to have you anywhere, I think 'cause to have you nowhere would kind of not make any sense. Right? I would like to talk about when you're down. As you know, life is life, right? And sometimes it feels like things are hitting you one punch after another. The hits just keep on coming!! First, it's money issues, then relationship issues, then job issues, and then traffic issues, and they're all combining to just make your life a living hell!!! Well, it can kind of debilitate a person in the sense that your mind will feel defeated, and when the mind feels defeated, the body feels defeated, and when the body feels defeated, well it then it's just this big, huge lump of defeat, which doesn't feel good. If you get into that place, then what do you do? What do you do? What do you do to get out of the rut that you find yourself in? There are many approaches. I think people, in a sense, really underestimate their own abilities. So when it comes down to how am I gonna get myself out of said mess, they don't really think about their own power. They think something's gonna come along and ‘save’ them. And it's not always the case. Sometimes one must save themselves. If you feel ‘some sort of way’, namely down in a rut, and life is kind of crappin’ on you, I suggest a little bit of reminiscing. Now, reminiscing is exactly like evidence, gaining evidence. If you've lived a certain amount of time, you know that you've been places you've done things before. You know that the experiences you've been through shape who you are at any given moment. You are the sum of every single one of your experiences. That being said, how do you convert an experience into a present action? I think the secret is in the mindset. You can sit and decide what you wanna feel, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to feel that way, does it? “I wanted it to be sunny today, and it's not, but I don't care. I'm gonna have fun anyway. Ha ha, ha!!”, well that's one way of looking at it, but another way of looking at it is, “Well, it's not gonna be this way forever. I'll just wait it out like a summer shower just coming along and dripping all over me. Then the sun will come out and it's not even tomorrow.” You have a great power in that space between your ears and it can take you anywhere you want it to go, provided you understand that the power is yours. There's a technique called reframing that I have a really hard time recognizing that I have the power to execute. And reframing means basically seeing something from a different angle instead of it being, “Oh, it's raining. Oh gosh, now I can't go play paddle ball.”, well, you say, “Well. I may not be able to play paddle ball today, but at least I don't have to set out the sprinkler and water, the flowers in the grass!”, or “I didn't really want to go play paddle ball anyway, so this would be an excuse for me to catch up on my reading.”, or, “I'll just pick up this guitar and practice a little bit because it's raining and I don't really want to go anywhere in the rain.”, so all you've done is just taken a situation and recast it, so to speak. You've made it into something it wasn't before, and all it was before. And all it was just a perception. You saw life a certain way. Now you see it a certain ‘other’ way, and that way is more constructive. It keeps you from staying in the rut. Now, reframing is one thing, but faith without works is dead, right? So what's one have to do? One has to get in action because action equals life! Life is all about action. Don't believe me? How do you feel after you've taken out the garbage? Better or worse? Or do you just let it sit there stank up your place? I don't think so. No, we humans, we thrive on getting things done and then taking the next indicated right thing to do. Not always the right thing to do, but the next indicated thing to do. So, if you are in a rut. Well, let me tell you, there was a day that I woke up. I had a headache, and I rarely ever wake up feeling injured or anything like that. This was new and oh my God, I was rolling back and forth, tossing, turning, 'cause I really didn't want to get up. I really didn't wanna do anything. And the fact that I didn't want to do anything. To me was extremely depressing 'cause I had things that I ‘should’ do, things that I ‘c-c-could’ do. I just hadn't gotten the gumption to swing my legs out from under the covers and start. It is hard sometimes to get started, to get momentum to keep moving you forward. So the first step is, what's the first step I want to take? The smaller the step, the easier it is to accomplish. Like I just said, swing the legs out from underneath the covers and put your feet on the floor. That is step one. What comes after that? I don't know. Maybe you have to relieve yourself. Maybe you have to swing your legs back under the covers 'cause you're not ready yet. Either is fine. Either is fine. 'cause you can always start again. You can always try again. Something fails you once doesn't mean that it's always going to fail. Okay, so let's say that you have your feet firmly on the ground. Now what? Stand up, stretch, that'll feel good hopefully, and if you're me, it'll be snap, crackle, pop joints, old, fragile, that sort of thing and then you're off to the bathroom or somewhere. Oh crap, it's cold. Sit back down, put slippers on, socks or something. Put on a robe, sweats something. Now you're rollin’, see you've done a few things. Wash your face maybe. Nah, we'll save that till later. Make coffee. Definitely!! So you make coffee, but you gotta eat something so you fix yourself a little breakfast, o you think you feel the same now that you've actually gotten up and done something or are you still in the rut? If you're still in the rut, keep feeding this beast. Keep doing what you're doing, because at some point you're gonna be more caught up in what's next. What do I have to do? What did I just do? How did I just do it? Maybe I could have done it another way. Or, “Wow, that really didn't work out very well.”, or something along those lines. Either way, this is the evaluation and reevaluation of your actions to determine if you're done and can move on to the next task, whatever that is, or the next indicated right thing. But you're up standing, walking around, moving around. At least what do you wanna do today? What didn't you do yesterday? Now that it's tomorrow, what are the things that you said yesterday that you said, oh, I'll do it tomorrow? Pick one. Just one. Pick the smallest one and do that. I've said before that anything that has a beginning, a middle, and an end is a type of process. Always know where you are in any process. So, this whole, how do I get out of a rut thing? You've also heard me talk about pizza and how problems, challenges, whatever you wanna call them, are like a pizza. You can't ever finish it all in one bite. You have to divide into bite sized pieces, chew, swallow, and then get ready for the next bite of the slice. Your time, our day, your objectives, your goals, aspirations, whatever you wanna call 'em, it's all the same. This is the ‘doing something’ of life, working towards the end goal of accomplishing things, right? Getting things done. I don't know very many humans who wake up and go, I'm not gonna do anything, and then do absolutely nothing. Yet, you get up, you do stuff. Why not make it stuff that you've wanted to do? Stuff that helps you feel better because you did them like unloading the dishwasher, or how about that basket of clothes that's been sitting there for two or three days, clean but not put away. After you do that, put those clothes away, how do you feel? Better or worse? Lastly, if you can't do this for yourself. I guarantee you. I guarantee you, this will get you out of a rut. You have to go outside and find someone who looks worse off than you and just say, “Hey, how's it going?”, “Hello, how are you?”, “Hi, hope you're having a good day.”. That's it. If you do that to five people that you've never met before. I can almost guarantee you the rut that you were in is more shallow, less deep. It's the human interaction doing something for someone else. That's the key. “Let me open this door for you.”, “Can I carry that?”, “Here, I'll take that cart back to the grocery store, I'm going in…”, simple, little, simple things. You do them for someone else, and the payoff is you accomplished something and that accomplishment stays with you and helps get you out of the rut. Now, it could take two or three actions. It could take 10 or 20 actions, who knows, everybody's different. But which would you rather do, sit and feel like you're in a rut? Just sit there. Would you like to just wait until it just ends? Well? What happens in the meantime? You suffer with it, that's what happens. Taking action, figuring out what to do to get you out of the rut that you're in. If you can't do something for yourself, or if you've done everything and you still feel some sort of way, I completely suggest going outside where there are other people. Engaging with one or two of them. See if that changes how you feel. Three or four of them, five or 10 of them. You never know. You never know. Which is why we try. We try things because there's no guarantee that whatever we try is going to work. That's just the way the world is, right? That's life in general L-I-G. Life in general dictates that just because it worked yesterday doesn't mean it's gonna work today, or five minutes ago or 20 minutes from now. You'll never know what works until it works, unless of course you think you can tell the future. And if that's the case, just jot down the next six numbers that you think of and pick those numbers in the in the Powerball. See what happens. Maybe you'll win, I must warn you, the odds are against you. Because you're in a rut doesn't mean that you have to stay there, so, get out of the rut!!! And in order to get out of the rut, you have to take action. You have to do something. 'Cause if you just sit there, you are just gonna sit there. The saying goes, “If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.” So if you do nothing, you'll get nothing. If you do something, you'll get something that's just how life works, or at least that's how my life works. And I bet you yours is not that different from mine. So let's change. Let's work on something. And it doesn't have to be huge. The sink is full of dishes, take out the coffee cup, put it in the dishwasher. “Hey!!” I did something, yay!!”. Put away some of those clothes and remember, yes, you are worth all the trouble you put yourself through. It's life. You put yourself through bad things. You'll put yourself through good things, but not without action. Yep, aways a catch. There is always a catch. You're gonna have to do something, and I really, really hope and pray you'll pick something that at least is fun or make it fun; I try to. Everything to me is some kind of game. Life to me is so amusing, it just is. It helps keep me out of the rut. With that being said, do me a great big favor. Don't stay where you are. You're not a tree move. Thanks so much for listening. I really appreciate y'all. And uh, you know, if it's not too much trouble, maybe you can tell somebody else about WANZOLOGY, the podcast!! Not your normal, average everyday podcast! Yeah, alright people!! Go forth and conquer or at least don't get yourself hurt or into any trouble. And I hope to see you figuratively electronically next Wednesday. See ya!