Remove your inbox from your home screen. Set boundaries around your emails - especially so if they are work related. Even better, if you are able, keep your work and personal emails separate. Whomever is writing in an email can most certainly wait, I promise. Take it from me; an impatient people pleaser, they can, and will wait. It's challenging at first, but if the icon isn't on your home screen and you're not getting pestered all day with notifications, it's easy to put it out of your mind. Spend 30 minutes in the morning after your routine and 20 minutes at the end of your day sorting through them. Monday through Friday only or even less if you can manage it. Regularly go through and click the unsubscribe button. On mac, its easy to right click and open the tab behind the mail so you can unsub after going through them all. I do this once every couple of weeks or so. It helps skim out the junk email. Some companies are sending 5 or more emails a day. bro - I'm not in a relationship with you - leave me tf alone.
Buy a journal or notebook from the dollar store and use it as a brain dump. No need to worry about 'ruining' it or making it perfect. Recycle it afterwards, or bury it, or toss it in the backyard fire pit. I notice when I spend money on nice journals me and my anxious brain get so nervous about writing in them and ruining them that I never actually wind up using them. It's absurd, I know, but if I get a regular notebook or dollar store journal I like the design of, I find it's easy to just sit down and scribble the thoughts bouncing in my brain. After writing them down it's akin to clearing off the kitchen counter. I can then sort through the list and prioritize what needs to be dealt with - typically within the week or month. The great thing about a brain dump is that it's not just tasks or to dos you can write there - it can also be anxious thoughts or worries you have. Identifying them you may realize they are causing you more stress than your denial allowed you to believe. Writing them down is a step forward in bisecting them and CBT-ing that crap from your mind. Worry takes a TON of energy.
Go through the notifications in your settings on your phone and turn everything non essential OFF. Take it a step further and mute group chats, or people who needlessly pester you with phone calls or texts. Less notifications means less interruption. Candy crush does not need to remind you about rescuing the teddy bears from the evil sugar lord. If you truly enjoy the game, you will play it without notifications. If you're trying to get through an event, set a timer on your phone. Just keep the notifications off.
Last year I was aspiring to be a social media manager. I (still) manage 5 separate instagram accounts including one for my personal business, as well as the restaurant I manage. I thought the idea of giving up social media was absolutely absurd, if not impossible. Here I am, one month into 2024 and I've spent collectively 1 hour on instagram. (It's jan 31st) I use an app called Hookle to schedule posts and not got sucked into doom scrolling. Delete the social media apps from your phone. Keep them on your ipad or tablet and allow yourself to visit on the computer if you're dying to keep in touch with Becky from highschool. Eventually staying off of them will get easier and easier. Social media is literally an addiction, so it will be a shock to your system to not have the doom scrolling to fall back on. Keep a book with you, find idle games to play ( there are lots you can actually earn money playing passively) or use a 'fat free' social media app like pinterest, lemon8 or swarm if you're still itching for that scroll and connection.
STOP WATCHING THE NEWS! I quit last year and NEVER looked back. It is so overwhelming and depressing. And mostly its just politics which is a never ending argument basically about people's opinions. I am aware of the major things happening, after all, you cannot completely go off the grid - the news pops up everywhere. But I no longer spend my days actively consuming news. Unless it's some how part of your career, steer clear. I still gobble up intellectual articles on topics I enjoy like history and phycology, but avoid current events.
No comments:
Post a Comment