Friday, September 23, 2011


People often tell me that they’re drawn to my energy.  That they appreciate the enthusiasm I emit for…for…well, the enthusiasm I emit for…everything.  I like surrounding myself with those who have similar energy.  Not that theirs has to match mine.  I’m keenly aware I tire most with my vigor.  But I do enjoy being around those who show at least some enthusiasm for the things they engage in, not the least of which is life. 

Currently, I’m out of state.  Went to an event tonight, one that was supposed to be full of lively folks and festivities.  But when I arrived, from the moment I walked in the door, I felt as if the absolute lack of vitality in the room was bleeding me dry of my own.  That if I remained there, I’d be completely enervated by the time I left. 

I wasn’t alone in my impression.  My friends, who also attended the event, felt the same.  One even went so far as to compare tonight’s event to a funeral, with those present emulating the depressed mental state of mourners, going through the motions of living life, resembling zombies, hitching and bumbling about not really paying attention or taking in their surroundings.  And you can forget the thought those zombie-like individuals might actually enjoy themselves….

Until tonight’s event, I can’t recall ever being in a setting where everyone present, my friends and self excluded, mirrored lethargy to the extent as to make sloths look downright psyched.  It was a bizarre state of affairs, one that was unsettling to my friends and me.  Though we’d planned on staying for the entire event, we lasted less than an hour before deciding that we needed to leave.  To separate ourselves from an energy level…or lack there of…that seemed so foreign as to make us wonder if it was real.  Unfortunately, it was.

As expected, each of us felt devitalized by the time we made our retreat.  I found this curious, since we hadn’t done anything that should have made us fatigued…well…unless you count trying desperately to avoid adopting the slothful mindset of those at the event.

As stated earlier, I don’t expect others to share or match my Energizer bunny energy level.  Never before have I felt so sapped of my abundant energy as I did by those present at tonight’s event.  I’m glad my friends and I decided to extricate ourselves from the event when we did.  As it was, it took us a while to rebuild to our normal energy level.  Should we have stuck it out till the end of the event as originally planned, I’m not sure we would have bounced back as quickly as we did.  I imagine that, as another friend pointed out, we would have felt the need to go back to our individual hotel rooms and scrub that lethargic energy from ourselves in a hot shower before pouring ourselves into bed, too exhausted to do much else.
            

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