Feeling Funky (Blog Post)

Every month or so I will get into, what I call, a “funk”. It’s that generic feeling of “meh”. What’s frustrating to me is that, as a highly self-aware person, I can’t always pinpoint what it is that gets me down.

This funk is not really an issue in an existential crisis sort of way, but it does hinder productivity and has an impact on my immediate relationships.

We’re blessed with emotions that can elevate experiences, bring a depth and wonder to life, make the highs higher and the lows lower, but emotions can do something else to us, as well.

They can lie to us.

When we have a thought like, “I have so much to do today. Ugh.” That “ugh” is emotion. It’s our response to the thought. And it is this emotion that sends this thought down a pathway in our minds that link it our threat detection system. This threat detection system is what causes so much anxiety.

I mean, I definitely want my brain looking out for real threats to keep me safe from bears, break-ins, and other scenarios that can bring harm to me or others, but a thought, dude? Really?

What is really leading to this funk, which can also be called burnout, is a loss of focus on The Kingdom of God.

We start to center ourselves in the middle of everything, and ultimately, we being to lose focus on God and put the pressure on ourselves, resulting in feelings of stress, depression, burnout, autopilot, anxiety, frustration, and passivity.

Matthew 6:33 says to “seek first the Kingdom of God, and everything else will be added to you.”

We need to be reminded constantly where our faith should lie, not in ourselves and our own strength, but in the truth that we are adopted sons into the Kingdom of God through Christ’s atonement. Therefore, we shouldn’t operate as the world does, but as a citizen of the Kingdom that has come, but also “not yet”. When Jesus started his ministry he said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15

If the Kingdom of God is at hand, but also not fully realized until Christ returns, then what encouragement we can have to rest in the fact that we can:

Trust in God’s Sovereignty in his will for our lives.
Have purpose in his kingdom by encouraging others, being salty (as seasoning and preserving the kingdom), and spreading the gospel for advancement of his kingdom.
Let our funk pass with grace and patience because we know that is not what God has for us.
Have hope for the future because his kingdom will be fully realized one day through Christ’s return will he will make all things new.

That’s good news, dude.

So if you ever feel funky, know that there is plenty of hope and goodness coming your way.

Be kind to yourself.

Look around and see what’s going on that may be causing the emotions you have.

Are you overwhelmed at work or in the home?

Are you in need of rest and restoration?

Are you holding on to something you need to trust God with?

Explore these questions through journaling, and let that funk pass, dude.

Because it definitely will pass.

You got this.

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