I was nose deep in the Oxford dictionary (a childhood habit I still secretly indulge in) looking up a word that I and many other HSPs frequently use, and that word is DRUDGERY. Most often it is used in association with work. However, I was thinking how sometimes that same feeling of drudgery goes beyond work, way beyond a job. There have been times in my life when I felt like I was drowning in drudgery! So what is going on when LIFE starts feeling like drudgery? Here’s the dictionary scoop on drudgery…
Drudgery refers to dull and hard work. Yes, that simple. I admit I was expecting more. Now, I’m confused. You see I don’t mind hard work and occasionally I even relish dull work (it gives my overactive brain a rest, like folding socks). No, drudgery doesn’t quite capture the experience of feeling like someone has turned the lights out on your life. Back to my old friend Oxford!
Now here’s a word, TRUDGE: to walk with slow and heavy steps. Yes, that definitely describes what some days feel like when you are not enjoying life, but simply going through the motions. Life definitely feels like this when you are in the process of burning out. (I used to describe this feeling as walking through wet cement). Then it hit me!
It’s TRUDGERY!
Trudging is existential. When I am trudging I am lost. I am caught in the minutia of life. One day blurs into the next. I’m exhausted and totally unsatisfied. I am just doing and don’t know why. (Hmmm, sounds a lot like burnout!) I don’t know where I’m going, I have no idea why I’m going, but I’m going. The thing about trudgery, you can be fully in motion and still feel meaningless.
“Sorry don’t have time to sit down and think about where I am going, you see I’m trudging.” Trudge trudge trudge… Next stop, burnout.
Right, now I’m going to confuse you even more! (Never let me loose in a dictionary!) Seriously I can’t even remember why this word jumped out at me, but it did and behold it made perfect sense. REDEEM. Now there were a few variations on this theme, but one made total sense: to regain possession of something in exchange for payment. BINGO!
We have been “trudging towards redemption!” Walking with slow and heavy steps through the dull and the mundane (don’t forget tedious!) in order to regain possession of something which you have come to believe you are paying for day in and day out with monotony, boredom, lack of enthusiasm, loss of energy and ultimately with what feels like selling your soul! And in this moment of enlightenment we have our solution. Right here right now we are writing off your debt!
You don’t have to ‘make payment’ for who you are, how you live your life, the work you want to do, your creative soul, or just being YOU!
Say it out loud, “ I will not trudge through my life. My days of trudging are over. (We can’t hear you! Louder!) My days of trudging are history!
We know that sometimes it’s ‘easier’ to trudge than to be all paid-up and ready to move on. “Oh no, move on where?” You don’t need to know where right now, or even how. You just need to know that deciding not to trudge is a one time decision that is yours to make.
Swearing off trudging is one of those big life U-turns! In an instant everything is different.
(tweet this)
Oh, we know it’s not always that simple and it doesn’t automatically mean your relationship will get an instant make-over or your job won’t be drudgery come Monday, but it really isn’t as complex as you think. Here’s what you need to do…
Each and every morning when your feet hit the floor, recommit to your present and your future. Remind yourself that you will no longer ‘trudge towards redemption’.
- You are free NOW to walk your own path, or dance it if you dare!
- You are free NOW to do the work you love to do.
- You are free NOW to pursue your dreams and desires.
- You are free NOW to live as boldly and as bravely as the very unique, sensitive, creative YOU chooses to!
- You are free NOW to live life, your life, as YOU.
Don your crown, are you ready? The Burnout Queens declare! You are redeemed. No more trudging.
You are free NOW to defy ordinary!
Until Next Time…Grab Life by the Crown!
P.S. The BOQs would love to hear from you! Leave your wisdom and comments in the box below.