This week I share a post by Peter Shankman that is compelling and thought-provoking:
Serious topic today, my friends…
I’ve said this many times before, in my ADHD book, on my podcast, and even during my many talks and speeches. Unfortunately, it’s time to bring it up again, because in the past week, three of my friends and I have talked about depression, burnout, and the like, and so I know it’s not just me.
Living in this “chase the dream” culture has many benefits. It’s awesome to go after something you love, to work really, really hard at it, to learn from your mistakes and setbacks, and eventually to succeed. But if the costs of doing this outweigh the benefits, you have to ask yourself what can be changed? In other words, change your tactics, but never your goal. It’s good to have goals, but not at the expense of your physical or mental health.
Complete honesty: My ADHD, which allows me to run at a million miles an hour while doing 50 different things, is also the cause of some of my darkest moments, moments that in the past have involved too much alcohol, stupid decisions, a feeling of hopelessness, a feeling that things simply won’t ever get better. In one case, the hopelessness was so dark that I started to question whether it was even worth it to go on.
Fortunately, I have a good support system, including a wonderful therapist, two supportive and loving parents, and a couple of very close friends, all of whom were there to talk me “down from the ledge,” as it were. In the end, it came down to knowing that I could, using the tools at my disposal and new tools that I’d yet to learn, improve myself, and my outlook on life.
It wasn’t easy. It’s still not easy. There have been days in the past few months where it’s been brutally hard to just get out of bed in the morning. (Throw in a busted foot which prevented me from working out for six weeks, and it just got worse.)
But out of the darkness always comes light, if you allow it to. Things are improving. I know that everything is cyclical and nothing is forever. I know that things do get better, if you work at it, listen to those who are trained to help you, and allow people in. For someone like me, allowing people in is probably the hardest thing to do. But in the end, it’s one of the few things that actually works.
Why do I bring this up? Simple. In the end, you are your longest relationship. Not your partner, not your job, not your latest project, not your next speech, not your startup, nothing but you. If you’re not taking care of yourself, how can you possibly expect to help others, to do great things, to build empires?
Simply put, you can’t. The greatest victory starts with taking care of yourself, and making you the most important project on which you’ll ever work. Nothing else matters, if you don’t allow yourself to matter first.
Please take my words seriously and take care of yourself. You’re worth it, and the universe would be darker if your light no longer shined on it.
“You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the night before, and that, my love, is bravery.”
As always, if I can ever help you out, reach out. I’m happy to listen. And if you’re in a dark place, there are other people who will listen, as well. Here is a list of phone numbers in every country you can call for help, 24 hours a day.
“Take care of you.” -Kit DiLuca, “Pretty Woman.”
Love and light,
-Peter Shankman
Photo Credit: Fiona on Flickr
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