My Truth
I sit here overwhelmed by the state of my life.
I've been unemployed for three months with no end in sight. I feel so hopeless some days like I'll never been able to work again. My energy level is at an all-time low. I just know it has to be a hormonal imbalance.
I feel like I'm in a dark, deep hole that no one can pull me from. It's really like quicksand. I'm sinking ever so slowly but it's happening nonetheless.
I won't start therapy until April. Finally decided on a therapist I feel comfortable trying. Even though I haven't met her yet, I sense positive vibes from our emails and my phone conversations with her administrator. I hope it proves true.
I'm taking advice from the last post I wrote. Knocked out some applications a little while ago. There has to be something for me to do out there. I just need something to put me back on my feet and give me the reassurance that I can function again.
Replies
Not having work is an unbelievable downer. There's an old saying about kissing the soil - older than the pope's one about kissing the soil, this harks back to greek mythology, where Hercules has to fight Antaeus. Antaeus is the son of Gaia, the earth goddess, and so long as he is in contact with the earth he is given strength. In greek wrestling, the point is to pin your opponent to the ground so he always wins. Hercules works this out, and separates him from the soil, holding him up high, and thus weakening him and being able to crush him to death in a bear hug.
So anyway, there has come up this idea of "kissing the soil". Humbling yourself down, regaining strength through humble pursuits. And what it means in the context is to have a fallback position. Have a fallback skill. It's not your profession, it's what you do when you hit the skids and have to fall back on something.
Me? I put ads in the paper to clean/wash exterior windows. Everyone hates washing windows but everyone wants them done. i charged very little, I got a lot of work.
I know someone who grows mushrooms in plastic tubs in his lounge.
I know someone who paints little vegetable signs and sells them at market.
I know someone who makes wheat packs and sells them around the chemist shops.
My dad used to buy stereos that weren't working, fix a diode, and sell them in working condition. The guy who just bought the old stove I had is taking it away to fix up and sell. He said landlords can't get enough stoves.
The question here is what can you do to kiss the soil? What skills or abilities or ideas even, do you have, for taking something, adding value, selling it on, and getting money out of it.
Find a thing. Paint glasses and sell on etsy. Whatever. Find a way to kiss the soil and regain your strength.
Amazing perspective. I needed this.