Who’s been here: You’re working your day job and find yourself often fantasizing about what else you wish you were doing, or begrudgingly doing your work with an empty heart, or procrastinating into a spiral of inactivity?

Enter, the wilderness. A period of barren wasteland. Maybe this is where I’m destined to be,” I ask. It can’t be. Or is it? Sometimes it’s all too much.

How do I know if I’m in the wilderness?

It’s simple. Resistance.

Notice that self-doubt? It’s not really you. Notice fears? That’s not you either. Although he wants you to believe it is. The Devil — a.k.a. the oppressor, the liar, the thief (of joy) — is a real force in the world, and even if you’re not spiritual or don’t believe in God, you cannot deny these “Resistance” points as Steven Pressfield calls it.

Resistance is what holds you back. It’s the inner voice that says “you’re not good enough,” “you’re not creative,” “go back to doing what you hate…it’s safer there, and you should just focus on your current tasks anyways, even if they drive you mad!” “My life won’t amount to much,” “I’ll always be average instead of special.”

These are lies. You were made for more.

As Steven defines it, resistance includes self-sabotage, procrastination, fear, arrogance, self-doubt and more. Depressing, huh?

The Devil is quite the schemer, as you can tell. I could write pages, I mean PAGES of personal self-doubt and second thoughts. I used to think that these thoughts were constructive, that they would lead me to “figuring out” my aspirations. But, sadly this is not the case.

“In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people’s burdens here on earth, I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and night. I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes 8:16

We could spin in the hamster wheel all day long, and never really get anywhere.

Combine this with a tendency to think, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Thinking is alright for productive things, but when thinking replaces action, you’ve got a real problem. Action is a catalyst to change, something that’s beneficial to be doing all the time, like a snake constantly growing and shedding its skin.

“Talk is cheap, like daydreams and other useless activities. Fear God instead.” — Ecclesiastes 5:7

How do I leave the wilderness?

Action.

Action will suspend your thinking and propel you into doing something meaningful with your life. You’ll stop feeling like crap. And if you look hard enough, you’ll see a way out of the wilderness.

Here’s one way to start: take a walk before work. Heck, get a good fitness session in before clock-in time.

Sometimes you have to wait it out.

Maybe you’re experiencing things outside of your control. Maybe it’s a family situation. Maybe it’s a living situation. Maybe it’s something to do with your career. Maybe you don’t have control over this particular situation.

This can be frustrating. But what’s even more frustrating is not recognizing that you’re in the wilderness during this time. Life might be challenging for a while, so that sucks. But there’s still something you can do about it.

“Be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.” — 1 Peter 1:6

If you’re not a Christian, think about your family. Think about your dreams and aspirations. Are these current trials worth the hope you have in your future? If not, you might have to figure out something worth pursuing.

This wilderness will not be forever.

So what can I learning as I’m coming out of the wilderness?

1. Always be poised for action. Pre-dispositioned for it. Goals help with that. Having a direction to aim for helps with that. These things will lead you out of the wilderness to lush pastures because your goals, dreams, ambitions and purpose lie in the lush pastures. Go there.
2. Deconstruct fear. Dealing with depression and anxiety? That’s fear talking. Always identify your fears and make them known. Once there’re out in the open, you can squash them like a bug.
3. Identify areas you’d like to grow in. Make a plan. Now that you’re almost out of the wilderness, you need visionary ideas to keep you in the pastureland. Where would you like to grow? Spiritually, socially, emotionally,
4. Get educated. Not sure how to grow or make a plan? Find role models and find out how they went about achieving the things they did. Copy their strategies and modify them to make them your own.
5. Lean into your identity. Ask yourself, “where do I feel the most alive?” Also ask, “if I could do anything I wanted in the environment that I’m in right now, what would I do?”
6. Keep a moral standard. Treating others with kindness and serving others will bring you joy. Practice this daily in your words and actions.

What if I find myself slipping back into the wilderness?

What about when I’m feeling down? Your goals/aspirations and action orientation are two things that will keep you going. Not sure what to do? Work on something. That something will lead you to a new place in your life, somewhere less sucky than the wilderness.

• Your enemies in those times are: feelings, distractions, that inner-voice, self-sabotage, procrastination, fear, arrogance, self-doubt.
• Your friends are: never forget to have fun, find something you believe in, work even when you don’t feel like it, and trust in something bigger than yourself.

With 2¢ and hope for the future, you can do anything you’d like. Make your life worthwhile and recognize that though you may be in the wilderness right now, there are greener pastures ahead of you.

✝