When I feel low, knowing why I’m in that state is so hard. What got me there? Pinpointing the cause is all but impossible and by the time I’m there, I’m too deep to get out. The whole world, in that moment, seems to be in collusion against me.
I call this, living under the Giant Potato.
Of course it is not really a potato. It’s a mass of stuff hanging over me like a boulder ready to crash the breath out of me. It hovers in the air like a blob of giant hopelessness. That potato over my head is full of countless things, both big and small. They are smashed together into one insoluble lump and the sense of being overwhelmed is just too much.
It’s in that moment I will make a decision to do just one thing. One small thing. It could be to wash the dirty dishes. Or to write that thank you note. Or to make that phone call. Then I do one more thing, then another. And soon, like finding the right string on a giant ball of thread, that giant lump over my head begins to unravel. That potato begins to break into pieces, small pieces that are soluble. And quickly that sense of hopelessness begins to fade.
Today, I will do one small thing. I will solve one problem, no matter how small, because I know big problems are made up of smaller ones. This is the road back to renewed hope.
