Do not fight darkness; just don't.
You have to know one thing about darkness: darkness is tough, especially if it's inside you.
Anyone who has had darkness within knows about feeling exhausted, as if you have sticky
tar-like tentacles emerging from all around you, slowing your every step, consuming your entire body and soul ...
Everything is an effort, every action, every thought ...
And the rational part of your brain sends you a warning that something is wrong. You can feel that something is wrong, so instinctively you will try to fight that.
But every time you try, it's like sinking further into mud - every struggle makes things worse. The more you try, the more you sink ... and eventually you do not see any point of doing anything anymore ...
So the question is: how do you fight something that becomes stronger the more you fight it?
The first step is to acknowledge that it is there and then ... put it aside. Do not talk to it, do not think about it and do not engage with it in any way.
This is the trick of it: "You cannot beat darkness with darkness ... you have to find a light."
Let's imagine the darkness. Let's imagine you have found yourself in a very dark tunnel in the middle of the night; you are scared, and of course panic sets in after a while.
Sooner or later, you will ask yourself: where am I? Where am I going? What is this place?
Everything is so terribly dark and you cannot see anything. The floor is muddy and sticky. Every step you make leaves you more tired, more confused ...
So you will try to fight aggressively, you will run in one direction or another, you will struggle and flail your arms to try to repel these tentacles emerging all around you, and bit by bit you will lose your strength, you will become weaker and weaker.
The more you fight the darkness, the darker it becomes ...
So, how to get out of this stalemate situation then?
The only way to get out of this perpetual state, out of this prison, out of this tunnel is this:
The first step is to calm down; this will help to conserve energy.
The next step is to observe and think.
Ask yourself: what is the way out?
Sometimes, there will be a chink of distant light; sometimes there will be the gentlest breeze or a muffled sound. If we want to get out, we have to attend to and follow that sign. We have to start moving towards the light, the breeze, the sound.
And with every step, the light will become stronger, and slowly the darkness will release its grip on you.
"You cannot resolve the problem by focusing on the problem;
you have to focus on the solution!"
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