No matter where you are, no matter what you’re doing in life, you are never free of the suffocating veil of fog that can envelop your mind. The fog has many forms. It’s the “I don’t feel like doing ____” mindset or a gray mist that made once exciting tasks into monotonous routine. There is no catch-all solution to fog. You can’t focus your mind on cutting it out, and you can’t run from it, whenever given the chance, fog will take your mind hostage.
My Fog Experiences
Although fog may be a metaphor, I am not speaking about some far-out idea. I have had multiple experiences dealing with the gray veil that keeps the mind from moving forward. Sadly, it has beaten me many of times. It beat me when I quit my first CPA job. It also beat me while in my previous job. Being in the fog is the place where your mind convinces itself there’s no solution and the pessimist side takes over.
Before I started blogging daily the fog had enveloped my life. Without a visible exit from the mist, I started creating a downward spiral that I didn’t think I could get out of. Blogging became my lighthouse, the beacon that cut out the fog and created a path to safety.
Cutting Through the Fog
Lighthouses come in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes the guiding light is a “carpe diem” moment when you tell your boss you are going to seize the day and do what makes you happy, quit. Sometimes the lighthouse is a voice inside you that rises above the fog to find your path forward. And sometimes your guide is taking action.
After being in multiple situations where fog has consumed me, I would say the best solution, when you are surrounded by the unknown, is to take action. It doesn’t mean diving off a cliff, or making a rash decision, but taking action means turning “I don’t want to” into “If I do what I don’t want to then I’ll feel accomplished.”
A little bit of feeling accomplished goes a long way. It starts moving your boat towards land, and guiding you through the fog bank. Whenever you get into a situation where you think there’s no solution, start creating, it will save you from yourself.