We all hit the wall. Stuck in inanition, we get frustrated with a lack of progress.
But all blocks are temporary. Our neurons continue searching for one another to talk to without forcing them to connect.
When the well runs dry, quitting to do something else should always be an option. The activity doesn’t always have to be active nor stimulating. It could be laying down on the couch doing nothing at all, letting the unconscious mind go to work.
Think of rest as deliberate postponement
Sitting upright in a chair all day is draining.
Standing on our feet all day is also exhausting.
Admiring our own words without proper interrogation is damaging.
Persistence, sticktuitiveness, building up confidence — everything that comes from deliberate practice matters.
But the answers seem to come when we put the task aside and rest on automatic, letting go as the best possible course. As Aldous Huxley wrote in Island:
It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly.
Humans are too flawed to push it 100% of the time. Our best work happens in stops and starts.
