h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I know apathy very well indeed. Those times when you know something needs doing; you have the time, the opportunity and the materials to do it. Yet you just don't do it. You can't be arsed.

The only cure I've found is to put my brain on the back burner, dissocate from any concious thought and just start doing it. I've discovered I can't "think myself into acting", I have to "act myself into thinking".

Once I've physically started doing something, even if it's just cleaning the bath or pulling weeds for ten minutes, life becomes easier. Apathy fades. Then it's safe to switch my thinking brain back on. Otherwise I just keep thinking about what I'm NOT doing, until it brings me down.

Hope this helps,
Mojo

P.S. Lepathy is a word invented by my flatmate - a portmanteau of lethargy and apathy. You know the feeling...

Act yourself into thinking eh? That sounds like a summation of Hemmingway's life as a whole. And he killed himself. I think the only way to kill the lazies is to inflame yourself somehow. Read a disagreeable newspiece, argue with your neighbor, ask a beautiful woman for her phone number. Essentially do something that gives you a physical reaction, whether fear, lust, anger or joy. If your heart rates jumps that usually kickstarts the old noggin'.

Gosh, I've never read Hemingway. Maybe I should; perhaps we are on the same wavelength. But I've no intention of killing myself just yet.

I do like your idea of the kick-start though. A sudden change, an emotion, a reaction. Yes, I can see that working. I suppose it's finding whatever helps you out.

I'm not sure about asking for a pretty girl's number though. I hate getting slapped in the face!

Mojo

mojo mojo mojo,
what better kickstart than a slap. And you have to ask yourself, is it worth a possible, again possible, slap for the chance to go out with a beautiful woman? Think about that.

My boyfriend might object!

Mojo

ooh sorry mojo just will always sound like a male name. Male monkey maybe, but still male. (and asking a handsome man still has the same feeling I'm sure-boyfriend or no it is still a kick)

Funny; I said I had a boyfriend and you automatically assumed I was female, though you admit I have a male name.

Maybe semantic argument is also a cure for apathy?

There is one other cure that entered my head last night...alcohol. Sure, you don't get anything done, but at least you stop caring!

Mojo

"Lepathy is a word invented by my flatmate - a portmanteau of lethargy and apathy".

I like it as a word!

Ahh mojo, forgive me, I am so opposed to the idea of political correctness that I have a tendancy of assuming that what I think is Right. But anyways booze always helps, but escapism is more of a symptom relief than a cure.