Crushing apathy - the first step to achieve goals

By Lionel Wijesiri

“We may have found a cure for most evils; but we have found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings.”
-Helen Keller, My Religion

The success myth of our culture is an evil one. We are told that “the freedom to do nothing” is the reward provided by great wealth. This concept is not right.

Of course, leisure feels good when you are weary from acute work. Leisure is restorative, allowing you to return to your normal self with renewed intensity. But, just like when you are satiated with food it is no longer pleasant to eat, when you are satiated with rest, it is no longer pleasant to rest.

The idle rich aren’t bored because they are rich. They are bored because they are idle. The idle poor have exactly the same feelings as the idle rich, but the idle poor call it “hopelessness”.

Political radio and TV shows exist because people would rather be angry than bored. Horror movies exist because people would rather be frightened than bored. Sensational films and photos exist because people would rather be shocked and offended than bored.

Boredom is a kind of death. Being angry, frightened or offended reminds you that you are alive. However, these emotions are sad and fruitless substitutes for the joy that comes from genuine creative work.

Happy people value something much more than they value themselves. If there is nothing in your life that means more to you than you do, definitely you will be unhappy.

Cure

Maybe, you are already unhappy. Are you feeling apathetic, bored, aimless and hopeless? If so, you have to do something about it. It won’t be the outcome that brings you joy; it will be the effort. You’ve probably excused yourself from taking action in the past by saying, “But I’m not very good at it.” You are wrong. No one is ever “good at it” in the beginning, but anything worth doing is worth doing badly until you get better at it.

First, let’s talk about how apathy affects you and your ability to live life to the fullest. Not only do apathetic feelings ultimately leave you feeling empty and unhappy due to the lack of motivation and desire, but it can also have negative effects on your social life, your studies (if applicable) and your work. Apathy seems to heavily promote procrastination, and unfortunately, it has even been closely linked to suicide. Suffice to say, apathy is a little more than a mild issue.

Three steps

Fortunately though, apathy can be cured in three easy, but important steps:

First, understand what apathy is

While the cause of your apathetic perception of the world may stem from past experiences, your peers and social conditioning, apathy is actually something you have direct control over. If you are feeling apathetic, somewhere in your mind, you have chosen to see the world as apathetic.

There are many people in the world in your exact situation, yet a vast number of those people are not feeling apathetic, yet they live in the same world as you. This proves that apathy is all in your head, and is ultimately how you have created the world in your mind. Consciously choose to create a better world in your mind, stick with those thoughts, and eventually you’ll find that there is excitement and passion all around you.

Imagine this scenario. It’s a bright, sunny day and you are in a house. From where you stand, you can see two windows. One is extremely cracked and foggy, while the other is crystal clear as if someone had just cleaned it. The cracked, foggy window is labelled ‘apathy’, and the clear window is labelled ‘joy’. Which one would you choose to look through? As overly simple as that sounds, that’s exactly the way it works in your mind. So first make the choice to start looking through the window of joy from now on.

Set goals and make plans

Apathy is sometimes caused by lacking a clear purpose for your life, so an easy way to fix that is to make some goals for yourself. Make big goals and small goals. Then, draft all the steps it takes, from A - Z, on how you plan to achieve them. If you allow yourself to be overly optimistic and don’t let negative attitudes or beliefs get in your way, this could actually be a fun little exercise, and can leave you with a feeling or purpose.

Read a book

Sometimes, mild apathetic moods can easily be cured by reading a book. Don’t like to read? Well, it definitely won’t hurt you so why don’t you give it a try? Who knows, maybe it’s not that you don’t like to read… maybe you’ve just never read a book you would enjoy.

Reading books will increase the blood flow to your brain, and will help build neural connections. It’s not only good for you, but it will get your mind off the way you are feeling. So take a short trip to your local bookstore and make an agreement with yourself to read at least one book.

So, the next time you begin to feel the onset of apathy entering your day, you should follow these three steps, though sometimes one or two of them will be enough. It’s literally as simple as choosing not to perceive the world as apathetic, making some goals to create a sense of purpose in your life, and getting your mind off apathetic feelings.

But, most important of all, be happy!

Most of us are well-meaning everyday folks with good intentions; with immense potential to make a splash; with incredible talents and gifts too good to waste. And yet, months, years and even lifetimes go by with too many of us safely playing small; taking only calculable actions with calculable results; shooting only for demarcated goals that can be achieved well within our imagination; caring only for people and about things that we know.

Dreams

So often, we make priorities in life, about family, health and career that make sense to us. And that is great. However, in doing so, we unwittingly subject ourselves to a limited world view and leave out a critical fact that is undeniable and right there in front of us - our connection to others and how we are part of a bigger family; the human race.

Dare to dream. Have lots of them; big ones, medium ones, little ones. Make sure they’re yours and not other people’s. Dreams stoke the fires of passionate living and guide us so that we may see possibilities beyond our current realities.

Ask yourself what you would do if you believed your potential was limitless. Would you live your life as your message a la Gandhi? Would you rock out while at the same time eradicating poverty pro bono (done for the public good without compensation)? Would you immerse yourself in as many cultures as you can in one lifetime? Would you start your own thing, with your very own brand of uniqueness, and grow it as big as you can?

Then ask yourself what’s stopping you. Is it because you think you can’t? What if it turns out that, with a little help from others, you can? So, why are you waiting?