09/17/2025
๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐: Have you ever felt like life has gone flat, that your days are heavy with routines and obligations, drained of colour, even when nothing is obviously โwrongโ?
Psychoanalyst James Hollis describes this state as when our psychic energy quietly withdraws from habits, roles, or patterns that no longer serve us. It isnโt laziness or failure. Itโs the soulโs way of whispering, ๐กโ๐๐ ๐๐๐กโ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐โ๐ก.
Hollis writes, โ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ข๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ โ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ?โ
And he goes on to remind us that physical ailments, illness, fatigue, or old complexes signal the drain of our psychic energy.
๐ Swamplands of the Soul by James Hollis (pg. 67-80)
When I work with clients in the depths of desuetude, there is often a lot of shame: โWhy canโt I get motivated? Why can everyone else seem to move forward, but itโs so hard for me?โ They find themselves stuck, often comparing to others.
What Hollis reminds us is that this feeling is not a pathology, but an invitation back to oneself. Itโs a call to listen more closely, to notice where your energy has ebbed, and to sense where it longs to return. Further exploration, like in therapy, can be helpful in (re)discovering what areas of your life are going unlived.
If you find yourself here, know youโre not broken. Youโre simply being called to turn toward the uncharted parts of yourself that are eager to emerge.
โจ Reflection: ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต โ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ตโ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ? ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด? ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ?
