Slowing Down
This year, I have one objective. Slow down. I’m not doing great so far, but luckily, I have 11.5 more months of 2024 to figure it out. I’ve spent the last few years living pedal to the metal. I’ve barely had enough time to catch my breath, and I’m abundantly aware that this lifestyle is not maintainable. My crashes are getting worse, my body is starting to feel the sleep debt, and it’s not making me happy. Slowing down is so broad that I found it difficult to find a good place to start. I was so focused on trimming the fat off my to-do list items and optional activities that I think I missed a glaring problem I’ve now started to address.
I spent some time trying to figure out why life feels so fast, stressful, and chaotic and realized that aside from packing my schedule too tight most days, my de-stressing coping mechanisms make time disappear. Have you ever tried to take a 10-minute break that turned into an hour because you decided to spend that break staring at a screen? If you haven’t, consider yourself a unicorn, and please comment below to let me know how you avoid the temptation because I could use all the advice I can get. I do this all the time. I say I’m going to take a 10-minute break, and before I know it, it’s midnight. My self-discipline is no match for my screens.
It’s interesting because I know that when I’m on vacation, otherwise described as relaxed, I don’t reach for screens at all. I rarely watch television on vacation, and my screen time on my phone goes down by hours without even trying. Not only is there no desire, but it feels like I have all the time in the world. Instead of being in a series of screen-related time warps, I’m more aware of the time and how I spend it. It's like the difference between 5 minutes running on a treadmill and 20 minutes playing your favorite video game. I’m learning that time is incredibly relative.
There’s a clear correlation between stress, screens, and time. To combat this, I’ve decided to cut back dramatically on my screen time, meaning my coping mechanism is being retired, and I’m dealing with stress and uncomfortable emotions head-on. After just a few days, I noticed that time seemed to pass a bit slower. It felt like I could breathe, take my time, and wasn’t always running from behind. It’s also been pretty hard as I’m not used to dealing with stress because I normally distract myself with a screen instead. I’m trying my best to embrace that discomfort, knowing that the habits I’m breaking now could be life-changing. I by no means think I’ve cracked the code on slowing life down, but I found a pretty good place to start and plan to stick with it. If you give this a try, let me know how it goes in the comments!