Do what you can.

No matter how little. How small and how insignificant.

Do it despite the half-hearted effort.

Do what you can because the teeter-totter habit of doing all or nothing will ultimately lead you to nowhere. It will very likely drag your limp mind, to some dark places, where you’d rather not be, and might not be able to get out of, for a long, long time.

When you do what you can, it won’t feel like you’re doing much. It will feel like what you’re doing doesn’t matter. It won’t feel right at all, or good, but do it anyway.

There will be days like this.

Perhaps many days like this, but they too shall pass.

Do what you can.

Eventually you’ll recover from that terrible cough you’ve been stubbornly harbouring for weeks now. And you won’t remember any of the tedious work that sprung up unexpectedly while you were away from the office.

Sometimes your dreams will be a bit neglected, while you are given no choice but to watch your coworkers scramble and push to new corporate heights. Watch them scramble in a new glorious direction.

This corporate and unionized world runs on new initiatives. It is lost without them. It thrives on reinventing, repackaging, and reselling what already works.

Be patient and keep doing something, because you will always stare down new and fresh initiatives that are meant to replace the old and stale ones. They always replace the work that never had a chance to mature or bear fruit, which was implemented not that long ago, but that is of no one’s concern now, because everyone is encouraged to be giddy with the new.

You have to do what you can.

When you can.

As often as you can.

No matter what.

No matter what the circumstances you’re facing. No matter what the excuses in your head are telling you. Those sons of bitches are concocting an offer for the easy road; a peaceful resolution. They give you permission to stand down.

It’s ok to do nothing.

You’ve earned it.

Wait until you’re ready. Wait until that stubborn cough leaves you. When you get some free time, perhaps next weekend. Do it when you find a new job or get a new boss. When the weather turns nicer. After the holidays. When your finances are in order. When your kids are a little more grown and in need of a little less attention. Wait until those aches and pains in your back work themselves out. Wait a little longer. A little bit longer.

Wait.

Come to think of it, you should probably have a little nap. To refresh yourself. You need it, after all you’ve been through. You’ve worked so hard. Too hard.

There is nothing for you to do really. Under the present circumstances all you can do is wait and hope your problems work themselves out.

One day.

Some day.

Don’t listen.

Do what you can instead. It really does add up. You have the ability to grow and change by doing little things and doing them for a very long time, and then one day, someone will notice and falsely believe that you got to where you are because you’re just lucky. It’s just easy for you.

It won’t be easy.

Weight training when you have a head cold will feel exhausting. Helping your kids with their homework, when you have so much of your own work to do will feel like an utter waste of time. A coffee date with a dear friend, in the middle of all the chaos, when there is so much work to do, is not only irresponsible, but truly insulting to the company you work for.

How dare you make decisions for your own life?

How dare you want to be happy?

Who gave you the right to live meaningfully?

Ignore them.

Do what you can.

When you can.

How often as you can.

A little bit of I can, will uplift your soul, and will guard you against the awful tragedy and terminal submission of I can’t.