We are all Sisyphus

"Sisyphus (or Sisyphos) is a figure from Greek mythology who, as king of Corinth, became infamous for his general trickery and twice cheating death. He ultimately got his comeuppance when Zeus dealt him the eternal punishment of forever rolling a boulder up a hill in the depths of Hades. Founder of the Isthmian Games and grandfather of Bellerophon, he is nowadays best remembered as a poignant symbol of the folly of those who seek to trifle with the natural order of things and avoid humanity's sad but inescapable lot of mortality. The adjective Sisyphean denotes a task which can never be completed." - World History Encyclopaedia.

These days we all seem to be pushing this boulder to the top of a hill only for it to roll back down again every time in some way shape or form. Weather it be through your job, education, family life, or social circles. 

Although there is some use to "spinning your wheels", in the wrong areas, for too long, can turn the use into a hinderance. You begin to lose hope that what you are doing has no end point, no respite, and no purpose.

The Sisyphian feelings can often come from the way we operate in the world even when we are working towards things. But as we try to chip away at our various projects, and life goals we only see the mountain ahead of us. 

Take myself as an example, Subscriber goals on YouTube, follower goals and concurrent viewer goals on twitch, members goals on Ko-Fi, writing goals for blogs like these as well as some books/short stories I'm writing, and sales goals with my music. But I need to break them down into far smaller chunks - mini sub goals that ultimately do the heavy lifting towards larger projects.

I know my specific case is not necessarily the norm, but this can also apply to other areas of life. Another that applies to me is cleaning and rearranging my flat. I have been stuck in this cycle of getting some of it done, and never enough to feel like progress is being made. But I just need to understand that the little markers of progress are there and not feel like it's collapsing back to the beginning every time I have to stop to go to work. 

Sometimes taking a quick breather can break up the monotony, or that feeling of progressionless grind that I'm sure many of us encounter on a day to day basis. Weather it be a simple change of focus for a day or 2, or even a full blown holiday, just that little change can make the daily grind feel a little more bearable. 

These days I see Sisyphus in all of us, and I take some comfort in that. We are all in this together, and are all trying to get their various continuous tasks done. Unlike in the myth it is not always a punishment for hubris and greed, sometimes we take them on willingly, and sometimes they are thrust upon us by circumstance. We can all feel burnt out by them, and understanding the story of Sisyphus can help begin to understand how we can lessen it's effects, or even avoid the burnout altogether.