The belly of the beast.
Steven Pressfield introduces the belly of the beast in his book Do the Work.
When we are making progress towards our goals, when we are taking action and moving forward, when we are finally feeling that we are getting somewhere, we get struck by lightning. It happens with every creative project and endeavour.
It feels as if the world is falling apart and the only course of action is to shut everything down and run for our life. It is especially horrendous when you experience it for the first time, although, experiencing it again does not us much good too.
The only thing we can do in the belly of the beast is to keep going, is to keep ploughing forward.
Yes, what we thought of light at the end of the tunnel was a mirage, yes it seems like our last hope is gone, and yes, we can't really figure out how things will get better.
This is the worst part of the dip and most people quit here. And, this is the worst place where you should quit. You have already done the difficult part. The only thing that remains is to persevere and move forward.
Merely, move forward, despite everything.