Please Restrain Yourself

**Unfuck Yourself**

Max sat at his desk, staring blankly at the pile of unfinished work scattered in front of him. His apartment was a mess, his fridge was empty, and his mind was running in a thousand different directions, none of them useful. He was stuck—deeply, hopelessly stuck—and he had no idea how to pull himself out of the downward spiral he had been trapped in for months.

Everything in Max’s life felt like it was falling apart. His job was draining, his relationships were crumbling, and he was drowning in self-doubt. The more he tried to fix things, the more tangled everything became. It was as if every effort to move forward only dragged him deeper into the mud.

One afternoon, after yet another missed deadline and a fight with his girlfriend, Max hit rock bottom. He lay on his couch, staring at the ceiling, wondering how he had gotten here. He knew he couldn’t keep living like this, but the idea of fixing his life felt overwhelming. Where would he even start?

That’s when Max’s phone buzzed. An old friend, Dave, who he hadn’t spoken to in years, had sent him a message out of the blue: *“Hey man, sounds like you need to unfuck yourself. Coffee tomorrow?”*

Max wasn’t sure if he was ready to face anyone, especially not someone who had seen him during better times. But something in Dave’s message struck a chord. *Unfuck yourself.* It was blunt, and maybe that’s exactly what Max needed.

The next day, Max found himself sitting across from Dave at a small café. Dave looked good—better than Max remembered. He seemed confident, put together, and calm. Everything Max wasn’t. After some small talk, Dave leaned in and got straight to the point.

“Max, you look like shit, man. What’s going on?”

Max sighed, feeling the weight of his life pressing down on him. “I don’t even know where to start. It’s like everything’s a mess, and I can’t figure out how to fix any of it. My job, my relationship… me. I feel like I’m drowning.”

Dave nodded, not judging, just listening. “Sounds like you’re in a bad spot. But here’s the thing, man—you’re not stuck. You just think you are.”

Max frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Dave leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of his coffee. “You’re caught in a loop. You’re telling yourself you can’t change, that everything’s too messed up, so you’re not doing anything about it. You’ve convinced yourself that you’re stuck, but the truth is, you can get out of it. You’ve just gotta start somewhere.”

Max scoffed. “It’s not that simple, Dave. I don’t even know where to begin.”