Do you feel like a mouse on a treadmill? Going round and round and getting nowhere.
Do you have “downtime” but find yourself running through the million things you “should” be doing instead of relaxing?
Can you switch off?
The life of constant ‘doing’ creates a life of constant stress.
We get so used to being stimulated 24/7. By Social Media, TV, kids, parents, work, advertising, other people’s expectations, our expectations, the ‘coolness’ of being busy, actually being busy, and thinking we should be more busy than we should.
We fret when we have the opportunity to be calm because there’s usually something just around the corner and we should stay prepared for that.
But maybe we’ve got it all wrong.
Maybe we don’t need to be so busy. Or so frantic. Or take on other’s expectations. Or have such high expectations of ourselves. Or think it’s cool to be busy.
Maybe we could give ourselves permission to relax and switch off.
There’s mountains of research to support the benefits of switching off. Just 15 minutes of solitude can significantly reduce the intensity of our emotions. Going without devices even for a short time reduces our stress levels. Even reading for 6 minutes can be enough to reduce stress by 68%.
So this week make it your mission to switch off.
Read a book.
Spend time in nature.
Switch your phone off for an hour.
Spend some time alone.
Take a walk.
Sit and stare at nothing.
Trust me – you’ll feel better
Related Tag: Positive Psychology Burleigh
