My slump: mid-mortem

Thank you all so much for your meaningful responses to the questions I threw out into the void last post.  It is so nice to know that I'm not alone in feeling this way sometimes.  Based on your responses and my own processes here's what I've come up with for how to de-slumpify:

1. Exercise.  A friend posted a question on her facebook page not too long ago asking how to get addicted to working out.  I have NEVER been addicted to working out.  I didn't respond.  Whenever I have done things for "exercise" like running or the gym or whatever I've always hated every minute of it.  I like how I feel after but hate every minute I'm doing it.  Until now.  Until Curves + Zumba.  I have been to 6 combo classes and I absolutely love every minute I'm doing it.  I even look forward to each class.  This is absolutely unheard of for me.  I also notice an immediate and positive shift in my attitude, energy and outlook on life after a class. 

2.  Stop Comparing.  I am a chronic comparer and I find I always come up short in the comparison.  The other day when I was bemoaning my current "lack" to Hugh he said, "Heather, you have to stop this.  You are meant to be you and no one else.  God will bless you where you are meant to prosper and maybe your blog is like the artist who sketches out an idea in pencil first before taking up their brush to create a masterpiece."  Isn't that a beautiful image?  New goal: stop looking at how I lack compared to all the nebulous "others" and declare that I will prosper where I'm meant to every time I feel doubt or a sense of failure creep back in.

3. Get dressed.  Living in slumpy clothes always makes me feel slumpy.  And make sure there is some colour and vibrancy somewhere in what I'm wearing.  Colour makes me happy even on grey days.

4.  Stop bolting.  I don't mean physically, I mean emotionally.  In the book I mentioned in a previous post, "Women, Food, and God", the author says, "Eat what you want when you're hungry.  Feel what you feel when you're not."  I've discovered I don't just hide behind food, I use books and movies too.  When I feel the urge to lose myself in a reading binge or find myself wishing I could just watch movies all day or wanting to bake so I can eat what I'm not hungry for I now recognize it for what it is - the desire to bolt, to hide, to avoid.  New goal:  Don't run.  I don't need to avoid anything.  I can intentionally allow myself to feel what I'm feeling because God is bigger than the pain and it does not have the power to annihilate me.

5.  Pay attention to what is happening in my life so I can identify what triggers these slumps.  For me I know this one was caused by sheer exhaustion - the fallout of the most insanely busy, stressful December I've ever had. 

6.  Read books that will stir my soul. 

7.  Make an effort not to isolate myself from my friends.  I find when I'm slumpy I retreat from relationships.  This doesn't exactly help the whole feeling alone thing!

8.  Daily declare creativity, motivation, increase and inspiration over my life.  Let that declaration be the soundtrack of my thoughts that plays throughout my day.

So there it is.  Nothing earth shattering, nothing I haven't heard or said before.  It's so simple really.  It's just not easy.  It means doing the hard work of self-evaluations.  It means getting dressed when I don't feel like it.  It means actively and intentionally carving out some time for me to exercise. These simple, non-earth shattering ways to live life fully are easy to do when I feel like it but the whole point is not to live based on my feelings isn't it?  Especially since negative thoughts and feelings give birth - not to motivation and creativity - but more negativity, apathy, and despair and all the moaning and groaning in the world will only result in a frozen, still-born existence. 

So how do we live fully when we don't feel like it?  We get honest about our avoidance.  We refuse to be ruled by the whims of our emotions.  And we take it one day at a time, one positive choice at a time, one "doing it anyway" at a time.  Eventually all the single, individual good choices we make will add up and equal breakthrough. 

This is my declaration today: I have a life that is only mine to live by the grace of God.  No one can live it for me.  I cannot live it again.  I will make the most of it.  I declare an increase of energy and inspiration.  I declare my faith is rising and greater revelation is on it's way.  I declare life and life abundant and I thank you God for the new things that are getting ready to blossom in my soul.

I don't necessarily feel this.  My slump is not over but I declare it's on it's way out.  And if you're feeling slumpy today too declare it with me.  Though it still feels like the dead of winter in my heart I know spring is coming.  It always does.