when your horse becomes an impossible task

When Your Horse Becomes an Impossible Task

In 2018, @Molly Backes on Twitter created a viral thread where she coined the term “impossible task.”

Backes defines the term “impossible task” as a description of how it feels when a task seems impossible to do. They are not necessarily hard or difficult tasks. In fact, they can be things that you actually want to do.

For some people, it might be cleaning the house, paying bills (even though you have the money), folding the washing, etc. But it can also be things you really want to do, such as riding your horse, getting fit, losing weight, finishing that room renovation, and so on.

For some reason, you just can’t face it, and the horrible thing is the longer it stays impossible, the more impossible it becomes. This is because it gets layered in guilt and feelings of hopelessness

I suspect many people I encounter in my work are struggling with their horse being an impossible task. They sometimes get stuck collecting advice but get stuck actually trying to action it

So, what is causing things you need and want to do to become impossible to do?

While the term “impossible task” is not an established psychological concept, many experts accept the description is really helpful in describing symptoms that can be attributed to depression and anxiety. An overload of stress and depletion of certain neurotransmitters in your brain short-circuit your ability to put yourself into action. It then gets layered with guilt, shame, and feeling like a failure that just compounds the situation. This adds to the subconscious paralysis and avoidance.

Therefore, when someone tells a person struggling with their horse being an impossible task to just demonstrate discipline and just get on and ride, it can just make them feel even worse because when they can’t, they can now add lazy to their list of negative things they feel about themselves!

You must remember, this is far from laziness. In fact, usually, it is created by being the opposite of lazy and trying to be everything for everyone and working yourself to exhaustion.

So, what advice is there?

Besides the usual important things such as seeking support from health professionals, here are some interesting things I have also read.

Focusing on sleep, nutrition, and the people who surround you matters. People that don’t judge, get frustrated or try to fix you are best. People that make you feel valued, appreciated, and supported on this planet are deeply therapeutic.

The other thing that kept coming up in my research was mobile phones and social media can be destructive to us in so many ways. There are many reasons including its impact on your mental health, sleep, being addictive and feeding your sense of not being good enough.

Limit your use, especially at night. You will notice the difference.

Finally, let go. Sometimes giving yourself permission to not ride your horse can actually help you get to the place where you can take action and act on your desire to get your horse back into work! This is because fighting the feeling of the impossible task can just fuel the impossibility. Deal with the underlying cause and emptying your own cup of stress and not just your horse’s!

I hope this post helps you become aware of what might be going on with you or someone you love