You're at the grocery store. You need to get enough food for this week. There are so many options. You're checking all the prices and labels to make sure you're getting the right product, and also getting the best deal you can on food, because the price of food is terrifying, while also debating whether to try that new recipe you saw online, or to go with whatever would get you food the fastest and easiest way possible.
Then you think "I should be working."
Then you remember that you're running out of time, and you still haven't finished getting groceries, so you rush through it, and remember "I'm worried about ____, I need to go check on them."
And then you realize that you're still not done. So, you finish with the groceries, forget half of your list, and get home to put stuff away, all while thinking about how you need to be more effective with your life.
Seriously, why do we do this to ourselves?
Honestly, I think we've started to have a weird pendulum effect. We obsess over, and glamorize working, and spending your time in the most effective way possible, trying to eke out all of your own worth every moment of the day, while also being bombarded with cheap dopamine hits, and time wasters, and are also told to take a break, rest, and take it easy, until someone sees you actually doing that. Then it's back to work again.
We end up feeling trapped. We start associating rest as something like a dirty pleasure, something we would eliminate if we could, but can't. We start viewing ourselves as lazy, even if we're constantly working. And we get overloaded by constantly being reminded of the everything else we could be doing, until we come out of the day feeling exhausted, half-baked mentally from trying to keep up with everything, and ashamed from the trail of part-completed tasks we have behind us.
I've been trying to deal with this by making a list of everything I need to do in the day, then only picking 2--3 that are the most important things. By doing that, it forces a hierarchy of needs.
I've also been forcing myself to meditate. It drives me crazy at the start, thinking about spending 10 minutes breathing, instead of working, but if you, like me are reluctant to spend the time to meditate, try thinking of it this way:
You don't have to start with 10 or 20 minutes. Start with 3. 3 minutes is the length of 3 short form content videos, and you probably see plenty of those a day (I know I do) You can start there, then after 3 days, raise it to 5 minutes. That's only 2 more minutes. Once you have 5 down, move to 7, and you should be on your way to 10 min.
Don't think of it as boring, or wasting your time. You are training your mind to be able to get the rest of your day back. Think about all the time you spend blanking out because there was too much on your mind, or because the anxiety coursing through you was overwhelming. A lot more than 10 minutes. Meditation helps to regulate your emotions, relax your body, and focus your mind. Can also help with breathing after a while, because you're training yourself to take deeper breaths and relax.
You deserve to invest in yourself. You deserve a better quality of life than just spending it rushing from task to task, and meditation can help you appreciate that.
I've also been trying to remember the idea of doing things "good enough" instead of "perfect" that way something gets done. By completing a lot of the smaller things that have been cluttering up you mental space, you can give yourself room to breathe.
Finally, let go of the idea that you will be perfectly useful every moment of the day. It's not practical. It's not realistic, Holding yourself to an impossible standard is only going to make you feel like shit. Productivity can be good, and important. The moment you turn it into an obsession where you remove anything happy and healthy in your life in the hopes of getting more done, it's no longer helping you. You've turned it into something toxic.
Remember, you are your best you when you're happy and fulfilled.
You've got this.
Kommentare