Recently I had an experience that falls right into the “Everything is a metaphor for everything else” category.
The head coach at my gym was describing what it feels like to train too hard without adequate rest and fuel. He said, “It’s like in a video game where you’re a character that’s walking down the street, and you get in fights with other characters. You have an indicator on the screen that tells you your character’s health—how much longer they can continue doing what they’re doing. If that indicator dips down and starts blinking, you have to pull back. You have to lie low until it recovers enough to go on.”
He was talking about pushing too hard in a workout, but isn’t this true of everything? We know when we’re running low on energy, enthusiasm, optimism, curiosity. It happens to everyone; the question is, what do you do when you notice it? Do you try to push through, drawing on willpower alone? Or do you pull back, retreat for a bit and recharge? What are the activities, and who are the people, that help you get that indicator back up to full?
