What thing feels most alive right now?

An antidote to inertia

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
— Zora Neale Hurston

There will be times in our lives when we put our ambitions on hold, our creative projects aside, certain relationships on pause. Such times can stretch across days, seasons, even years.

Because it can feel like nothing really happens in these periods, we can be quick to judge ourselves within them.

Yet such times are crucial for absorbing things. In my book, I talk about how we are like sponges—we need time to soak in the inspiration, ask questions, and let life in so that we have something to squeeze.

It can be difficult to remember this in the swirl of it all. How can we trust that the flow will come when we are in the ebb? And when do such periods go from being necessary rest and replenishment to feeling, well, kinda soggy and filled with inertia?

Each of our answers will vary, but I’ve found it helpful to distinguish rest from inertia by looking at what came before. Say you were pushing, grinding, appl…