Aging made me realized that I wasted a lot of time. Aging also made me realize that there’s no point in living in the past.
I now live more in the moment, doing stuff that I would only dream of doing when I was younger.
With more new experiences, come new realizations. One of them is being more mindful of what I keep in my head. It’s hard enough to know what to put in because of too much information, you have to think about what to keep in your head.
Before I started doing these 3 things, I thought were just woo-woo stuff, but they have helped me process our fast-paced world (and I wonder why I haven’t been doing them before.)
Journaling & Note-taking
It was hard at first because I was not used to writing. Let alone writing about deep feelings about you and your experience.
Journaling sounds so cliche but the act of recording your thoughts mind might surprise how helpful it is.
Here’s how I journal (there’s no one way to journal, find what works for you):
- Morning 5 am – I try to remember my dream and record it. I have a few daily prompts to answer on my laptop.
- Throughout the day, I record my thoughts and take notes on what I want to think about next, cool quotes, or anything that catches my attention.
- Before I sleep, I look at my notes or journal and see what I did throughout the day. Maybe write something about what I want to look forward to the next day.
So, my method is crude. Unorganized. And it works for me. Find what works for you.
The next one is going to be on the woo-woo side, but I think it’s worth checking out.
Breathing Exercise
This is where you will think that I am just some woo-woo spiritual guy.
I was skeptical too about meditating. But hear me out.
When I started incorporating breathing practices daily, the effect was profound. I started feeling less stressed. I had less emotional roller coaster and more control throughout the week.
One exercise that I do is just a simple Two-Breathe Exercise (How much more simple could that get). It’s something that you use now.
Here’s how it goes:
- You don’t have to close your eyes. You can even do this while doing something, like exercising.
- First, inhale 2 breaths (1 second each) through the nose then hold for 1 second. This is to fill up your lungs with maximum oxygen (which is good)!
- Second, exhale for 4-6 seconds through the mouth or nose. This will produce a relaxing effect and slows your heart rate.
- Repeat.
The magic of this is that you don’t have to be ‘meditating’ to be able to do this. Like closing your eyes, sitting, and doing poses.
Research has found that doing breathing exercises can help reduce stress. So, use it NOW and it’s FREE!
Now that we have a tool to relieve stress, let’s remove some stress by removing some time from the next topic.
Time off social media
Ask anyone right now, who is on their phone, about what they are doing. I bet 90% of them will tell you they are on some social media platform.
We are in the information age. Everything is at our fingertips. Everything that can cause stress is also at your fingertips.
The more I read about personal development, the more I realize that attention and focus are scarce, and fear and stress are abundant.
We don’t have enough attention with a lot of things pulling us in every direction.
So, why did I decide that I have to dedicate time off social media?
According to research, social media is as addicting as cigarettes. Our brains are wired for dopamine hits. Every day, we scroll and see something we like for a split second that boosts our dopamine.
I want more.
I can get more. Fast. Split second.
After doing this for hours end and realizing that I have wasted a lot of time scrolling because I JUST CAN’T STOP, I had to decide to have time off social media.
After some time off social media, I don’t want to go back. I now have time to read more meaningful books. More time with my family. Time to focus on my career.
Try it. You’ll be amazed how much better you will be.
Start with 1 hour. Increase the time as needed. Soon, you’ll realize that you’ll have some control over yourself.
You are on your way to winning your time and your life back.
Conclusion
With the three changes I made in the past few years, I can’t say how much I am looking forward to more time with myself.
Is that selfish?
It depends on how you look at it.
- Is it selfish that you want to better yourself so that you can be your best self for your family and colleagues?
- Is it wrong that the world is a better place by having more awareness of your inner self because you don’t care as much as what others think?
- Do you want to have your best life?
My journey through self-awareness helped me through hard times. I know it can help you. You just have to trust yourself.
