Listening To Your Own Advice

 I have written before about how giving advice mostly entails telling people what they already know, but that, in itself, doesn't make it pointless. (Unsolicited advice is a whole another ballgame though, and not what I am going to talk about today). Sometimes people know the right course of action or inaction, but they need to hear it from someone they trust. But, today's post is about listening to your own advice. A friend who is going through a rough path messaged me the other day,. They feel like they have lost their zest for life and their motivation  to do well in their job, which requires a lot of creativity. My advice to them was that they are smart, capable, and these are exceptional circumstances that won't last. Basically, to give themselves some time to come back to their default state (yes, default states can change, but that's a topic for another day). And, as I was recording the message I realised that  a lot of what I was saying to them applied to me. I am also struggling to find the passion in my work and have been feeling adrift and diffident since my PhD even though I know that I am intelligent. Maybe, I just need to give myself some time, either to regain the passion in my work or to figure out if I want to anything else.