If you are reading this right now then you're probably free. Free in the physical sense. No jailor to speak of. I could be wrong, but chances are I'm not. I may even go a step further and say you're more free than I am right now. Truly, I can't leave this place I'm in. For the next two months, this is where I'll be. However, this isn't about me.
Regardless of your physical freedom, many of us hold ourselves captive unknowingly. Whether the culprit is a daily routine absent of stimulation, depression, or some uncompromising perception, many of us are incarcerated by our own limiting perceptions.
For the sake of being succinct I will isolate depression. When I mention depression I am also considering any lifestyle bereft of livelihood. A rut.
Maybe you're in a hole right now. At any given time we've all been deep down in a hole and many of us have considered ourselves irretrievably lost. If this person is you, I would like to offer some suggestions to rattle your cage enough to prise the bolted door open. None of this is advice I've read in a magazine; far from it, this is derived from personal experience.
1) It's not about you. This is the most potent and remorseless acknowledgement I've had to accept when I'm feeling down. You see, when you are stuck in a murky depression, the way is not clear. The only thing you can ruminate upon is that very depression which is making you feel so powerless. You're not thinking about hugging a loved one or smiling at strangers or doing a random act of kindness. Yet, this is the very thing you should do. Anecdotally, consider a selfless friend you have, and then consider their overall happiness. When you dwell on your own misfortune, it further empowers this negative feeling. If you can live for a cause greater than yourself, you'll find greater purpose. So stop focusing on yourself entirely. Shift your gaze to something bigger, exert yourself toward it and see if you don't start climbing out of that hole.
2) Momentum is key. Good habits beget good outcomes. Likewise, if you are entrenched in poor habits you can expect yourself to feel bad. As an example, I am at my best when I go to bed early, wake early and take my time getting ready for the day. If I exert myself intensely in the gym, eat well, and read, seldom does this result in a bad day. If I string together several days of this, I naturally find myself feeling incredible. It is a momentum which can eventually sustain itself. Happy people didn't just stumble onto happiness. It is something you have to work for. There is no magic bullet. It's the price we pay for being sentient creatures with high thought processes.
3) Employ the long view. Finally, being sad is normal. Why should you be exempt from the feeling of sadness? This sounds like some sort of spoiled entitlement. Of course, this particular entitlement is rampant in modern culture. How many people seek refuge in medication for what is ultimately just a phase in their life? Divorce is supposed to make you sad. So is the death of a loved one. Responding to such episodes by blasting your neurotransmitters into oblivion with medication isn't ideal or sustainable. Eventually you have to lock gaze with the demon you've tried so hard to elude. The good news is sadness is almost always episodic. That is, just like happiness is a phase, so is sadness. Again, this is the price of admission for being a highly functioning being: we are subjected to a very vast spectrum of emotion.
Take solace in knowing that unless you are an extreme outlier, your sadness will come to an end in short order. And again, there are actions and acknowledgments which can expedite an improvement in outlook. The caveats are that first of all, the way out of this hole you're in may not be easy. It may be very hard indeed, and you have to do it one step at a time. And secondly, no one can do it but you. No matter how badly your friends and family want you to get better, it takes initiative and sustained effort on your part to make it all better.
There's more you can do, just as there's much more to the whole idea of holding yourself captive, but this will do for now. There's a world out there, life to be lived, people to meet and good books to read. The number of experiences you haven't had exponentially outnumber those which you have had. The great expanse of what you don't know is infinite compared to the modest amount you do know. There is a certain comfort in this and for me, an excitement to engage this existence which I simply won't allow to abate.
"GRACE"
Clean & jerk (135# is Rx, but I did 125#) 30 reps for time.
Completed in 10 minutes 11 seconds. This was my first time doing clean & jerk and I really enjoyed it. It's a big technique which expends a lot of energy and is the epitome of "picking things up and putting them down." I look forward to doing it again. Video below:
Conditioning
Strict press (110#) 12 reps
Pushups (deep, chest to ground) 30 reps
Squat jumps 30 reps
Strict press (110#) 8 reps
Pushups 20 reps
Squat jumps 20 reps
Strict press (100#) failure after 4, was going for 6
Pushups - repeated failure, stopped at 8 but was going for 15
Squat jumps 10 reps
And then I proceeded to spill onto the floor for a while. Feels good man.
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