Reading is the best way for me to be mentally present, and I don’t do it enough.
I write a lot and read rarely. However, this is all changing.
If you’ve read my prior posts about my mental health, you know I’ve had a rocky go of it. I struggle with depression and anxiety. My biggest problem is not being able to turn my brain off. It’s constantly thinking (like most of us) and I need a f*cking break!
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With all this swirling around in my unstoppable thought process, I came to think of what I like to do to relax.
I like to play video games, scroll through my phone, or drink a beer. After putting a little more thought into my “unwinding” methods, I realized something. Each of these coping skills are negative.
- Video games make me irritated and lose track of time.
- Scrolling on my phone forces me to compare myself to others.
- Drinking beer is never just one and I end up hungover and regretting it.
So, I had to come up with a lifestyle change. This is new to me, but so far it’s kind of life-changing!
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What I’ve done is a simple substitution of things that are mindless and don’t help my anxiety, and plugged in some new hobbies. Here’s what I’m doing now:
- Reading has been huge. I’ve been reading books instead of video games to get my mind actually stimulated and focused on something.
- Working out instead of beers is a game-changer. I feel confident in my decision after a workout, and not like total dog shit.
- Instead of scrolling through Instagram, I write on here. I literally type the whole article through my phone and that’s it!
The problem with my phone is the constant comparison to others. I can’t stand looking at Instagram for 30 minutes and feeling worse at the end than the beginning. Why do I do that to myself? I think it’s become habit or even an addiction.
There’s no room in my life for me to do anything that isn’t serving me to either be better or happier. Life is far too short to be consumed with what others are doing, playing video games, or drinking beers getting wasted.
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A lot of the time nowadays, I pause and think, “is this going to make me happier? Or sadder?” This is the thought I have before doing something important.
Being mentally present like this is tough. And no, I’m no expert and am not in tune with every one of my thoughts. However, I work hard at it every day!
This hard work really does take the edge off of the anxiety. The way my brain works is that snowballing effect of worst case scenarios. Therefore, this presence in the moment has paid dividends.
A useful thought lately when feeling anxious has been, “how am I right now?” I know it sounds stupid, but I mean it in the way like, “am I hurt? Am I dying (literally)? Am I bleeding?”
When I personally put everything into perspective while remaining present, it’s a big deal. I hope it can help you as it’s helped me.
I hope this is a little extra valuable to you, because this isn’t coming from a doctor, it’s just a dude who goes through it too. Stay well and keep pushing through the anxieties.
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This post was previously published on Medium.com.
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Photo credit: Ian Stauffer on Unsplash