Korea Institute of Psycho-education: How to get out of lethargy

You may lose the enthusiasm and vitality when things do not go as intended while you are pursuing values and meanings of life. Then, you may enter the state of lethargy in which you don't want to do anything. Then, you must first find the cause of your lethargy instead of just trying to address the problem in a practical way. Some people force themselves to restore vitality when they enter the state of lethargy, only looking for fun and pleasure, which may lead them to develop addiction in spite of themselves. It is recommended that you try to find the cause of your lethargy and adequately address the problem instead of just trying to get out of it by all means.

You may enter the state of lethargy when you cannot find the direction in your life for some prolonged time. Or, you become lethargic when you are stopped from pursuing values and meanings of life by some external force. You may try to find a new direction of life and be able to get out of lethargy by thinking hard and restoring hope and vitality. Thinking is important as the initial action in regaining hope and vitality for setting a new direction of life and hope cannot exist without thinking.

All humans live pursuing values and meanings of life for self-actualization. We feel emotions of happiness in the process of pursuing self-actualization when we achieve our goals and share happiness with loved ones. By design, humans are to pursue self-actualization in their own unique ways until the very moment they die. People who do not pursue self-actualization may pursue and have fun and pleasure but not happiness. On the contrary, when humans cannot pursue values and meanings for self-actualization for any reason, they may lose enthusiasm and vitality in life and enter the state of lethargy. Humans are designed to generate enthusiasm and vitality when they can pursue values and meanings of life and to enter the state of lethargy when they cannot.

We experience difficulties when we have problems with pursuing values of life. However, we do not stop pursuing values just because we face difficulties. We keep pursuing values trying to overcome difficulties for the whole life time. We gather up the will power and make efforts to achieve the goal. Then, we may solve problems and grow hope along with more hope, enthusiasm, and vitality.

On the contrary, we may lose hope when we find the problems are overwhelming and impossible to overcome. We may decide that there is no hope and stop pursuing values of life. When you have a firm idea that there is no hope, you lose enthusiasm and vitality and enter the state of lethargy.

When you feel that there is no hope in what you have been doing, you must transfer to pursuing another value instead of giving up everything. You must start fresh by collecting new information and acquiring new knowledge to pursue a new value based on all the precious experiences you have accumulated so far. You must find a new value to pursue to get out of lethargy instead of being absorbed in the result of failure. You can bring back enthusiasm and vitality as you set a new goal and make efforts with strong will power. The period of lethargy continues from when you stop pursuing values until you find new hope and vitality to pursue a new value. The longer the period of lethargy is, the harder it is to get out of it since you become indolent.

Even successful people can fall into lethargy. When you achieve the goal of life, you may stop pursuing values since you don't have values to pursue anymore. You may feel the sense of achievement and satisfaction and want to enjoy the fruit of your effort. However, you will feel the emptiness of life no matter how much fun and pleasure you have, and then, you may begin to ask yourself why you are living, falling into lethargy. Successful people may stay in the state of lethargy from the time they achieve their goal until they find a new goal of life. The longer the period of lethargy is, the harder it is to get out of it, and the more likely it is to get immersed into fun and pleasure without finding a new goal.

There are people who pursue fun and pleasure in order to get out of lethargy and regain enthusiasm and vitality. They cannot maintain normal relationships since they prioritize their own fun and pleasure over being happy with other people. They take advantage of other people disregarding others' pain and damage. They live only as an individual rather than as a person in relationships. As time passes and their condition advances, they destroy themselves and others more and more disregarding the harmony and order of the society.

The pursuit of fun and pleasure does not belong to the pursuit of values and meanings of life for self-actualization. The pursuit of values and meanings involve making efforts to be happy together in relationships. Pursuing fun and pleasure is a distorted way of getting out of lethargy whereas trying to set a new goal and make efforts is a healthy way of getting out of lethargy.

Women tend to focus more on meanings than values of life for self-actualization. Women usually enter the state of lethargy when they lose meanings of life. Meanings come from emotions you feel at present, so the loss of meanings leads to the loss of feelings of love and happiness. Feelings of happiness comes from exchanging and sharing emotions in close relationships. Women achieve meanings of life through living happily with family members, getting married, or having children.

Women may enter the state of lethargy when they lose meanings toward the counterparty. They may suffer from pain and wounds caused by conflicts in the relationship. They feel that they will feel comfortable if they give up on the relationship but it is quite difficult since their feelings are involved deeply. Once women decide that the relationship is meaningless, they can change the object of meaning to another person and continue to pursue meanings, which often times leads to the distorted pursuit of meanings of life. They may give up their husband and children and attempt to pursue meanings with other people, which is usually accompanied by pleasure seeking.

When you enter the state of lethargy while pursuing values of life, the most important thing is to restore hope since you will not attempt to do anything unless you have hope for the future. Hope will generate enthusiasm and vitality. On the other hand, when you enter the state of lethargy while pursuing meanings of life, you must treat psychological wounds and restore healthy psychology before anything. Then, you can make the right judgment and decision on how to proceed with the pursuit of meanings again with the current counterparty or with other people.

When you suddenly enter the state of lethargy, you must first find the cause of it and accurately understand the mechanism of falling into and getting out of it. Please, do not give up on the pursuit of meanings and values of life for happiness. Try to find a ray of light even in the darkest place and follow the light of hope to stabilize psychology and regain enthusiasm and vitality.