Every year around this time, I get the urge to quit everything.
Not in a dramatic, throw-my-laptop-into-the-harbour way. More like a low hum in the background that says: what if I just started over? New city, new work, new everything. The days feel heavier. The to-do list looks the same but I’m dragging myself through it. I catch myself scrolling job boards for things I’m not even qualified for – or interested in, if I’m honest.
It used to scare me. “I’d chosen wrong again. Built the wrong life on top of another wrong life. Now I had to burn it all down to fix it.”
But I’ve been through enough mid-year ruts to know that’s usually not what’s going on.
Today in 4 minutes or less, you’ll learn:
✔️ One small thing to try when the fog rolls in
✔️ A question to sit with instead of spiralling
✔️ Why a rut is rarely a sign your whole life is wrong
Doable ideas 💭
When the quit-everything feeling shows up, don’t act on it. Don’t ignore it either.
Instead, change one controllable thing this week. Not your career. Not your relationship. Something small enough that you can actually do it before Sunday.
Take a different route on your walk. Move your desk to face a different wall. Swap your morning playlist for something you haven’t heard in years. Text one person you’ve been meaning to reach out to.
The point isn’t the change itself. The point is proving to yourself that you’re not stuck. That felt sense of “I can move” is what starts to dissolve the fog.
Most of my mid-year ruts have unravelled from a single small adjustment. Never from the giant life overhaul my brain was demanding.
Reflections 🪞
Is the thing you want to quit actually the problem – or is it just the loudest thing in the room right now?
What’s the smallest controllable thing you could change this week that has nothing to do with the big decision your brain is pushing you toward?
Mindfulness 🧘🏻♀️
A rut isn’t always a sign that your whole life is wrong.
When you feel like quitting everything, your brain will hand you a very tidy story: this job is the problem, this city is the problem, this relationship is the problem. And sometimes, yes. Sometimes the story is accurate and the rut is pointing at something real.
But more often, in my experience, a rut is one of four quieter things wearing a dramatic costume.
Your body needs care. You’ve been sleeping poorly, eating on the run, not moving, running on caffeine and adrenaline since March. The fog isn’t philosophical. It’s physical. No amount of journaling will fix a nervous system that’s been over budget for months.
Your environment needs novelty. Same walls, same coffee shop, same route, same faces. The brain gets bored and starts generating drama to feel alive. A weekend away, a new class, a rearranged room – sometimes that’s genuinely the whole intervention.
Your goals need clarifying. You’re working hard, but toward what exactly? When the goal is fuzzy or outdated, effort feels punishing. Half of my mid-year ruts turn out to be “I’m still chasing something I wanted two years ago and haven’t checked whether I still want it.”
An unnamed feeling needs language. Grief, resentment, loneliness, boredom, envy. Feelings without a name will run the show from the basement. Naming the actual feeling – out loud or on paper – changes the whole quality of the fog.
So when the quit-everything feeling shows up: pause, don’t make the big decision this week. Decode which of those four is loudest right now. Then adjust one controllable thing – the smallest one you can actually do.
That last part matters. Ruts get dangerous when they stop being a passing weather system and start being who you are. “I’m just a burnt out person now. I’m just not motivated anymore.” The longer you sit inside the fog without moving, the more your brain wants to make it permanent.
A small action, even a very small one, interrupts the story before it hardens.
So if you’re in it right now, I hope this helps. The urge to quit everything is worth listening to, but not worth obeying. Not yet. Decode it first. Adjust one thing. See what happens.
Usually, the life you were about to burn down turns out to be mostly fine. It was you who needed something, and the something was smaller than you thought.
Ideas Worth Pondering 🧠
The ultimate form of preparation is not planning for a specific scenario, but a mindset that can handle uncertainty.
– James Clear
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- #1: Forwarding this to a friend whom you think would benefit from actionable well-being tips
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