Thryvelabs
Daily Drop
When life’s feeling a little empty…
When life starts to feel empty, boring, dull, flat. It’s time for something new, it’s time for some change, some adventure, for purpose to be re-awakened, revitalized.
We need an adventure, a quest, a mission, a journey. We’re made for more than the mundane routines of modern life. No wonder everyone’s depressed and anxious.
When we feel unfulfilled, we know something is missing, our soul is crying out to us, we should listen. Most choose to numb out through various escapes instead.
Addictive technology, websites, games, substances and distractions are more prevalent than ever before, right at our fingertips 24/7. It can be hard to avoid.
These exact things are the reason life feels less meaningful. They flood our system with pleasure chemicals like dopamine, without us needing to work for a reward.
It’s an overstimulation that eventually leads to almost everything feeling flat and numb, even once pleasurable experiences become seen as boring and unsatisfying.
Imagine candy vs fruit. McDonald’s vs health food. Alcohol vs water. Video games vs chess. Adult media vs a committed relationship. Movies vs reading a book.
Our modern lifestyle is like processed sugar, or even further, like crack. It’s fast paced and addictive, it also induces paranoia, anxiety, stress, and leads to burnout.
This is why often life feels empty. What goes up must come down, after a high comes a low, a kid has a sugar crash from too much cake. An addicts stash runs out.
When we spend so much time consuming, endlessly watching, doomscrolling, listening to everyone’s opinions of everything, it does something to the mind.
It over-saturates and overstimulates us to the point of exhaustion, sometimes even depression and despair. We have not acclimated to this level of bombardment.
The nervous system is living in fight or flight, thats what causes the exhaustion and lack of focus. Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, no wonder why.
So what can we do about this? Well for one we can slow down, do something real, touch grass, not the glass of a phone at least for a few minutes. We can detach a bit.
We can take a step back from the modern traps, we can value freedom from dependence on addictive junk, and the cheap, false, fleeting pleasures it brings.
We can build relationships with humans face to face, we can go on adventures in the real world not just video games and movies, we can go on a hike or bike ride.
We can start hobbies, like carpentry or knitting or whatever your heart desires, something physical and interactive, something you can progress at bit by bit.
We can at least turn off notifications (if you wont delete some of the social media). We can unplug for a bit, maybe go camping for a weekend and see how you feel.
We can play games like chess or real sports, we can travel when possible, we can educate ourselves, learn new skills, start a business or go for that new career move.
We can help others, volunteer or teach what we know, we can be creative, write a book, make music or paint, make sculptures or pottery, something expressive.
It may feel a bit more “boring” at first, but at least it’s real. Slowly but surely the pleasure from doing grounded activities begins to increase as we learn and grow.
We feel accomplished and free. Free from being a slave to the whims of the moment, the temptation of the hour, the addictive grind of the slop machine.
We will build more discipline and willpower, more resolve, more grit, and more peace. Our clarity will increase and we will see how we were trapped before.
If life feels dreary, sad and meaningless lately… Are you willing to try something different? It’s worth it to get off the hedonic treadmill, and onto a new path.
