Doldrums
The Sea Becomes Dangerously Still
Introduction
The doldrums are a dangerously calm circle around the globe in which ships can become stuck. Psychologically speaking, people can get trapped in doldrums. Thank you for joining me for this second nautical issue of The Adventure of Reflection where I consider the pursuit of personal dreams through the metaphor of doldrums.
A Minute of Motivation
Dare to Dream
If you don’t have a dream, you can’t have a dream come true.
What do you want most from your life? What kind of future seems the most exciting and fulfilling to you? If there was no possibility of failure or disappointment, what would you hope to be when you grow up? What kind of places would you go? What kind of experiences would you have?
Dare to dream as though everything you dreamed would come true. Get excited about your future. The motivation to do great things with your life lies not in the small, menial tasks of today, but in the glorious dreams of tomorrow.
Dreams are the energizing force behind the actions of today. By building a dream of what you want your future to look like, you are stoking the fire to accomplish today’s work. Dreaming energizes all the work that lies between today and the better life you dream of having in your tomorrow.
Dare to be a dreamer. Dare to have vision and purpose and hope. Aim for the stars – you may not reach them, but you’ll certainly go farther than if you aim for the ground in front of you.
Note. Written in 1993 to encourage college freshman and preserved on dot-matrix printer paper. Published here because of the energizing potential of dreams to provide escape from the doldrums.
Enjoy Life More
Dealing with Doldrums
I can remember learning about doldrums in elementary school. In a zone around the equator the sea becomes completely still; the lack of winds for sailboats can leave ships adrift for long periods of time. This Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone or ITCZ is called “itch” by the nautical community. Honestly, as a child, I found the thought of getting stuck in the doldrums terrifying. In times before fuel-powered boat engines, ships could get trapped in the doldrums and run out of food and fresh water. Not surprisingly, sailboat captains worked to avoid traveling into this windless zone.
In modern vernacular, doldrums are times of inactivity which are experienced as stagnation or depression. Thus, the doldrums start with times of boredom and can degenerate into feeling stuck and hopeless. Boredom, in and of itself, isn’t bad, it triggers a restlessness for activity. Prolonged periods of inactivity can become doldrums, making escape increasingly difficult.
Are you in the doldrums? I realized a few days ago that my professional world feels stagnant, and, in the quiet moments, it is sometimes painful. The professional seas have become dangerously still, and there is no wind pushing me. At first, I was relieved by the calmness, but I am now feeling “adrift.” I am pondering my escape from the doldrums. It is not safe to stay “here” as I may run out of resources to sustain my well-being.
What do sea captains do when they get stuck in the doldrums? They chart a course of escape, orient their ships in a desired direction, and fire up the engines. If there were no engines, the sea captain could navigate according to the stars and get the crew paddling. Once stuck, it takes a lot of human energy or fuel to escape, but remaining in the doldrums is unwise.
Boredom is normal and healthy, but, when boredom degenerates into the doldrums, escape is needed. To enjoy life more, chart a course to a meaningful destination, and start paddling. Enjoy the restful calm from time-to-time, then get moving again. If you are still alive you have a purpose waiting to be fulfilled; the “itch” you feel in the quiet times is evidence of unfulfilled purpose. It’s best to scratch it by moving in the direction of your dreams.
Faith Corner
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (see Proverbs 13:12)
Are there unfulfilled dreams in your heart? Their presence, when no movement is made towards their fulfilment, “makes the heart sick.” This ancient proverb seems to be describing what I would call “dream doldrums” – an unmet desire for which despair, rather than hope, has developed.
In contrast, the proverb describes a fulfilled dream as a “tree of life” – a powerful image of life-giving energy and hope.
Fill in the blank: Someday I hope to [blank]. Next, find a quiet place and think deeply about what you are doing to move towards the fulfillment of that hope. Are your hopes stuck in the dream doldrums? Or are you steadily paddling towards the fulfillment of your dreams? These may be painful questions to consider. In a “distract-yourself society,” the heart sickness caused by unfulfilled potential may lie deeply buried under a sea of calm-inducing distractions.
Dear Lord, thank You for putting dreams in my heart and equipping me with the resources to move towards their fulfilment. Help me to realize the blank spaces in my future for which You have stirred me to fulfill my dreams. Energize me to move steadily in the direction of the dreams You have for me. Help me to trust You in the rough seas and the calm ones, looking to You to guide and energize my life. Amen.
Poetry Pause
D. O. L. D. R. U. M. S.
Drifting
Onward
Listlessly;
Depression
Remains,
Unless
Moving
Somewhere.
By Cindy MacGregor, March 31, 2023
Note. This poem expresses what I have realized about psychological doldrums. Moving somewhere generates hope, which is an antidote for depression. I inserted a picture of our dear Sophie, who had a knack for looking sad; she really wasn’t.
Old Mom to Young Mom
Responding to “I’m Bored”
Do your children complain to you when they are bored? My mom had a great response when I voiced this complaint: she suggested a chore I could do, such as washing the dishes. I learned not to tell my mom when I was bored. I also learned to respond constructively to my own times of boredom; I read, took walks, or just daydreamed. These were the days long before the Internet, including social media.
In a time of near-constant stimulation, boredom is treated as a negative condition to be remedied through a screen on a device. Scrolling through social media, clicking randomly through the Internet, or playing a digital game will certainly “fill” the time and stave off boredom, but how helpful are these activities? Do your children know how to sit quietly and just “be” with themselves and their own thoughts? Do you know how to do this?
I spend very little time on a computer or my phone when it isn’t a necessary part of my productivity. I have no social media on my phone. My computers don’t even remember my passwords for Facebook. I play no digital games. Sometimes I sit and just stare out the window at the trees and sky. Daily I go into a quiet bedroom and just ponder my thoughts, writing some of them (by hand) into a journal. I love to walk in the woods and just get lost in the wonder of rocks, trees, wildflowers, and birds. I attribute my ability to do these soul-strengthening activities because my mom taught me not to complain about being bored.
As an old mom to young parents, I encourage you to think about what type of adults you are building in your children. Will they “own devices” or will their “devices own" them? There’s a vast and wonderful world to experience and contemplate – it lies all around you and your children. There’s a deep and complex world within you and your children – the real adventure is to be able to reflect and “be” – not to escape into a little flickering screen.
Dear Dr. Mac
Dear Readers:
One of my newest subscribers, Thann Bennett, also has a newsletter of encouragement. His free newsletter, The Equipped, can be found online at:
https://theequippednewsletter.com/
and includes helpful analysis of current events at the national and global levels. He also has a heart-warming inspirational section each week. I suggest you check it out, particularly if you find it hard to sort out your thoughts about troubling situations presented in the news.
I am open to suggestions for topics for future newsletters. Where are you struggling? How might you like to “pick my brain” about something? Please send an email to: drcjmacgregor@outlook.com; I hope to hear from you!
You can find all my previous posts at https://cindymacgregor.substack.com/archive