I sat down to write this letter to you today, and to be honest… I felt stuck. Uninspired. The blinking cursor was just sitting there. Blink…(nothing here)..Blink…(still nothing)… Blink (OMG, this is annoying).
In the world of “hustle culture,” the advice is standard: Push through. Grind it out. Produce at all costs. Be reliable. Be consistent. Do more. Work harder. And to be honest, I’m really tired of that drumbeat.
As an occasionally mindful person, I know a few things about myself and these spaces. Generally, they are transient. In a few hours, or sometimes days—and once or twice in my life, years—it passes organically.
Because nature has rhythms.
The tide goes out.
Winter comes.
Trees go dormant.
If the tide never went out, the ecosystem would die. If winter never came, spring wouldn’t happen.
We tend to value the “high tide” moments -the energy, the productivity, the inspiration.
And to be fair, it’s great fun on this moments to be alive.
But the “low tide” is just as crucial.
It’s the time for the slow things to happen.
The things that time, beneath the surface – and cannot happen in heat of the hot summer.
It’s when the shoreline is revealed and the deep work of restoration happens.
The lack of inspiration isn’t a problem to fix any more than a new moon is a problem because it’s dark.
So I’m struggling with this “low tide” and working on not fighting it, but leaning in. I hear my clients struggle with judgments about this as well. It can be helpful to honor these intermissions as a necessary part of our lives.
Rest is not a waste of time, but rather, where time does its secret work.
Even the despair I’m feeloing today can be thought of as a frustrated longing for hope and meaning.
That longing is connected to what’s true and good, and will wax and wane its way through our lives, individually and collectively.
Because within every living thing, there is the wish to be whole.
And that is my wish too.
Frustrated today, perhaps – but true nonetheless.
Stay present, and remember – the tide always returns.
– Brett