This is one of the biggest problems I deal with

I work with a lot of people and by far the biggest problem the people I coach deal with is they have lost their passion.

I've talked with fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, entrepreneurs and artists and each one has come to a point where life is flat. They're not passionate about who they are, what they do, who they're married to, so everything they do (in their marriage, work, or life) seems to steal energy from them. So, instead of putting everything they have to making their lives, jobs, and relationships better, they cut corners to conserve energy. Then, their jobs, relationships, and lives become less fulfilling and more soul-sucking so they cut back again.

Pretty soon, they're watching tv, youtube, Instagram, or smoking the devil's lettuce and scrolling the internet for hours every day, too tired to even try.

This where, 45 years ago, people would say, buck up and do your duty, which works for a while. Then the malaise returns and fighting it just gets harder. Sure, you can live like this, but no one wants to.

Recently, I on-boarded a client that's dealing with this. On our call, I could hear the tiredness in his voice. Because he's been dealing with this for a while, the way he communicated his problem was amazing. So, I invited him to write a little bit for me, with his permission to post, so we could start a conversation about how to regain enthusiasm and passion.

From the lips (or keyboard) of my client

I don't know when it started, but recently I've been tired. And not the tired that goes away after a long weekend. It's built up over a long time. No matter how many breaks I take, or how long I try to switch off, it doesn't go away for long.

It doesn't make it impossible to work, or take care of the people close to me, which is why I haven't dealt with it before now. I still do what I need to do to keep my business running, and my wife happy, mostly. But it feels like I'm reciting everything from memory.

Like I said, it's not impossible to maintain a pretty happy life. But the thing that made me realise I needed to change was everything had stopped growing. I no longer put that bit extra into my work and things started slipping. I could just barely keep up as it was, so there was no way I was going to be able to continue pushing forward.

My dream had been to take my business to the next level, but it just wasn't going to happen like this. Not when I felt stretched thin and tired just maintaining.

That's when I started looking for help.

The importance of passion

I'm back. If you empathise with the above, you're not alone. Lots of the men I work with deal with this on a daily basis, but no one wants to talk about it. There's still the feeling, among men, that this is normal. You buck up and deal with it – you get done what you need to do. And the feelings, they'll come after (maybe).

But, you don't have to treat life like a trudge to school uphill (both ways) through ten feet of snow. Life can be better.

So what I want to do, is encourage everyone who is dealing with this, or who has dealt with it in the past, to put your hands up in the comments. If you've got anything you know works to regain that passion, share it.