A few years back, I heard this theory about how people who are over-achievers or self-disciplined most of their adolescent and adult lives can many times hit a point where they can longer perform the most basic tasks. People who have always been good at things and excelled even, at some points in their lives, start to perform in the opposite direction. Essentially, they give up.

I found this so interesting because I feel like I have hit this wall several times in my life. I have been going and going and going and then some days can’t seem to finish or accomplish basic tasks. I have also seen this on a bigger scale with former, younger athletes/beauty queens/high performing kids who then somehow “lose it” as they get older. 

I think it’s actually a pretty common occurrence but understanding why and how to get past this or avoid it is a little harder. I think I tend to live this way – all in or all out. I could be all in for days or weeks or years and then the opposite for the same amount of time. I think especially as you hit middle age, so many things pile up, so many life events, responsibilities, fear of the unknown, different anxieties, etc. hit harder and the ability to act, change, and do is much harder and more complex. The alternative many times becomes doing absolutely nothing.

When years go by without working out, without eating healthy or taking care of our physical and mental state, it becomes so easy to maintain that place of the known and the comfort level which comes with living in that bubble. The idea of making drastic changes or going back to our younger years when we got A’s and were high performing athletes/dancers, etc. seems impossible because we have come so far from that. And life hasn’t helped – it’s gotten harder so how do we go back to the innocent times when we just showed up, just did our homework, and went to practice and seemed to be good at it all? How do we get out of this rut of inaction? This very attractive, comfortable way of living in avoidance of having to achieve anything that requires change and hard work?

I don’t think there’s any other way except one hour, one small accomplishment at a time. It’s one early morning wake up call at a time, one healthy meal at a time, one productive day of work at a time, one workout at a time. You can push it off to next week or a more convenient time when you hope life will magically motivate you again, but take it from me, that magical moment never comes. You just do. And then continue doing. 

You may not be considered an over achiever or high functioning anymore because we aren’t in high school anymore. But in a world where everyone goes through the same shit as an adult, if you are doing things on a daily basis which give you peace rather than anxiety, making you healthier rather than lazier, adding a tiny bit of value to those around you by just showing up – then I think in essence we are living as simple and as hopeful as we were in school – towards some common idea that doing our best daily will give us a better, brighter future. The future is still unknown even in our 40’s. So why not live it ordinarily but with hope and appreciation for all our small accomplishments, every single day, so we can rest easy knowing we are still building, still achieving.