Letter to the Editor: The Swamplands

To send a letter to the editor, simply write in. You’ll get a reply and we’ll anonymise any blogged version.

Reader J writes:

Hi Robert,

I had been in what Jung calls the “swamplands” for a while when I decided to leave my corporate job and do something else- anything else. After the second breakdown in two years, it was time to call it quits and move on. It had been four years or so, and while I felt attached to the safety net, it was actually making me sick.

But before I could quit, I was laid off. I was given severance, some continued benefits for a couple of months, and even the potential for 1/2 of my annual bonus. I was surprised, and while it didn’t give me the satisfaction of saying all of the things that I had planned and wanted to say about the job and the company, it was an ending. I had to appreciate the corporate attitude, then, even if I didn’t before.

And now, I’m a couple of months into my new freedom and I’ve found the swamplands have followed me along. Hard to get my body and mind adjusted to being on my own time instead of someone else’s. It is nice to be able to sleep late, or, walk the dog for several hours and stop for coffee if I feel like it. Or to nap in the afternoon for hours. I’m trying to give myself some rest and some space – I find it hard, but I know it will settle. I hope it will. I hope I can see around the corners of the maze.

I’m glad for your magazine and the other stories and notes I’ve found so helpful these days. Do keep it up.

Hi J,

I’m sure you never meant be presented as a cautionary tale, but your letter is a healthful reminder to our other readers that work often comes with a sort of PTSD that can follow you around for a while after an escape.

You’re doing the right thing though, J. Take a break before moving on to other things. Enjoy your freedom for a while and re-learn how to loaf. Wilde said that doing nothing is hard work and, in a busy world where everyone else is buzzing around you and claiming their modality is normal, it can be difficult to go against the grain.

Once you’ve finally relaxed though, your best ideas will come along gently, and maybe one of those ideas will be the thing you move onto. And you’ll do it independently and without coercion.

Look to your dog friend for inspiration. Do they spin and toil? Do they fret when life isn’t moving a hundred miles per hour?

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Escape with the best of them by reading New Escapologist Issue 19.