Greetings!
Usually, in a month like this—December—it used to be my most pressured month, where restlessness of the mind was the order of the day. I would wake up in the morning and exclaim in disappointment at how fast the month was running, as if the angels in charge of controlling the length of the day wanted it to end quickly so they could rest too. Lol.
The pressure was proudly sponsored by my inability to meet up with the targets I had set for the year. Whenever it got to October through December, the reminders always rang loudly in my head, making me work harder. Should I call that working harder? Well, that's what it's called in my part of the world. I would see myself everywhere, doing multiple tasks at a time in such a way that my mind and eyes worked in parallel lines—because my mind would always run away from my eyes....It didn't want the eyes to take a sleep
Many times, I traveled home, and one common question my family would ask was if I had been eating well, because my eye sockets would sink in so deeply. They didn’t realize it wasn’t food that was the problem but the lack of proper sleep and constant unrest. Even at that, I didn't blame myself because I was doing everything possible to catch with the speedy life.
But what changed?
It’s been two years now, with this year making it three, since I decided to change my approach to the rushes of life, especially during the end-of-year season. What are the lifestyle changes I adopted?
Getting enough sleep no matter what:
Oh yeah, I still work hard, chasing my goals, but I no longer do it the way I used to, especially by skipping sleep. I am someone who doesn’t usually sleep during the day, but these days, whenever I’m free and sleep beckons, I excuse myself and take a nap.
Usually, the mind is always jam-packed with thoughts, and sleep has a way of subtracting the irrelevant ones and making the mind spacious. Is it only me it works that way for? Have you ever gone to sleep thinking about many things, only to wake up and realize some of them weren’t worth thinking about? That’s what rest through sleep can do. It promotes simple living.
Mindfulness meditation
This mindfulness is just my way of assembling all the things that make my life run faster than its shadow and eliminating the ones that aren’t worth it. Life is actually cool when we live simply and within our capacity.
Many times, I have found myself taking on responsibilities bigger than me, all because I wanted to please someone or buy things to "fit in" with my peers. But hey, I realized this and dropped that lifestyle. When I reflect deeply, I see the heaviness around me and drop it off.
Decluttering my environment:
I don’t know about you, but when my mind is full of thoughts, my eyes feel heavy if my environment is loaded with items in a disorganized way. I used to be okay with this lifestyle of not minding how cluttered my surroundings were. But now, even stepping on a pen lying on the floor can feel like an electric shock. So, I tend to arrange everything in order and discard things that are not useful.
Again, this doesn’t only apply to my physical environment; I declutter my online space too. Let nothing stress me at all.
Now, I'm having the best of the season. People are rushing here and there to to catch up but as for me, I'm not bothered✌️.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to #KISS writing prompt. You too can join us.
Merry Christmas!🌲
Photos used are mine
