Congratulations! We have survived the winter and it’s blues! As we brace for Spring, it’s time to make some changes in order to spring clean our minds and get our mental health in check. I love the new season transition because it gives me this jolt to want to do something new and for this Spring, I have adopted a new habit of stillness and being quiet. This included cutting out all the noise and being intentional about quiet times and developing strategies to give me more me time.
Silent walks
I bumped into this trend on TikTok and I had to try it. I found a walking route on my Google Maps that gives me a 45-minute walk. My neighbourhood is quiet just after 9am when people are at work after the school run rush at 7am. The air is clean and the dust is settled. I’m a paranoid person so walking around with headphones or anything steal-able like my phone was a no no. So silent walks were perfect. In the beginning they were boring and daunting because I was used to the noise but now I have come to love them and when I don’t go, I truly crave them. They are a great opportunity to tap in with yourself and debrief what you are going through and feeling.
https://twitter.com/laithe___/status/1671170150752727046
Phone usage policy
I have a phone usage policy that I guard jealously. My Do-Not-Disturb, Airplane mode and the off button work tirelessly. I do not believe that people were meant to be in contact as much as we are today. If I’m being honest to myself, the people who get in touch with me the most are people who want to use me for one reason or another. It’s hardly someone trying to pour back into me. It’s always the people who want to pick my brain for free or people who need a favour. I used to get FOMO whenever I would delete my WhatsApp. And one thing I have come to learn is that people text you because you are available. I’ll be offline for a month and I come back to less than 10 messages but if I’m online, I will rack up over 50 messages because why? I’m available. So now, I log in at the beginning of every month for 3 to 5 days and then uninstall the app again. And you know what? The earth is still spinning on its axis. Think about your own phone usage, where can you cut back, what boundaries can you put in place?
https://giphy.com/gifs/katespadeny-tired-sleep-d29lLvcWXDBVyO00Z4
Social Media
I have removed all the social media apps from my mobile phone. Except for TikTok because there are lives I need to attend. Every other social media app is now only accessible from my laptop. I have set aside time in my week for social media and that’s when I will go on there and respond to comments and share my content. I use scheduling apps to disseminate my content and this protects me from getting sucked in. The first week of doing this was terrible. The withdrawal symptoms were insane. I would find myself mindlessly scrolling trying to find apps. I’m at peace now because the truth is, exposure to inflammatory content will get a rise out of you even if you don’t engage in the comments. It will stay in your mind and derail your day. The inconvenience of kicking up my laptop to log into social media is the deterrent that’s keeping me focused and offline. My husband and I were discussing how we could never own digital watches because the notifications would be too much for us. It’s my personal opinion that digital/smart watches are the epitome of being “too plugged in.”
https://twitter.com/TheSevndeep/status/1694387139989958879
Television
If you never watch that series that everyone is raving about, will you die? Probably not. But that’s the thing with addiction, it feels like you would probably pass away. There was a time I started to feel a disconnect from my husband and it just felt like we were two ships passing in the night. I got this epiphany to turn off the TV. So, every evening at 7pm there are no screens running in the house. All of a sudden, all this free time opened up. We had time to talk, connect and to discuss household issues. We started a podcast and ironed out the kinks in our business strategies. We catch up on TV over the weekend when we are resting and it’s been a gamechanger in our relationship.
https://giphy.com/gifs/l0EoAl1ECVSSWuwr6
It’s time to make silent moves. LOL! Find opportunities in your everyday life to find peace and tranquility. You know the expression, “I can’t hear myself think.” That’s what is happening with us currently. We are so plugged into social media, distraction and noise and we aren’t plugged in with ourselves. We are disconnected from ourselves. We need peace and quiet to sort through our personal issues and work out our feelings and experiences. We can’t do that when we are mindlessly scrolling and wearing headphones all the time. The brain needs time to be on ‘Maintenance Mode’ and declutter the system.
