Wading Through Life…

In my day job, I’ve always worked at full throttle. I’ve always been expected to. A To Do list a mile long and constant questions and interruptions. Someone always looking over your shoulder, judging. And I was raised to believe meeting this challenge was a sign of a hard worker. Complaining would be a sign of laziness.

Sometimes that busy pace helped the day go quicker; some days, not so much…

Recent changes mean that I’m currently in a slower time. How long that will last remains to be seen. But for now, my days at my new job are happening at a much slower pace.

Great, right?

Not always. I think our brains can get used to that fast pace and pushing to keep up. Even while you know it isn’t good for you and not a healthy way of operating 24/7. I know I had begun to have difficulty powering down at night. Or I would shut down to complete inactivity (which should have been a huge sign to me that something wasn’t right.)

My new job is slower paced, but the restless, anxious, “I must be wrong because every second isn’t packed with something waiting” feeling won’t go away.

That’s when I realized…I don’t know how to downshift. Everyone tells you to just breathe>>but I don’t actually know how.  😊

It isn’t just a matter of getting your body to slow down (i.e. stop running on adrenaline). The problem is the BRAIN.

It feels like if I just exited an 80 mph interstate and found myself on a 30 mph backroad. My brain keeps searching for the speed, even though it’s no longer necessary.

I know a lot of people view this as a good problem to have—me included—but its not one I’ve encountered before.

Creativity requires a slower, meandering mindset, like a Sunday drive…until it latches on to the idea it wants to pursue. But I think its easier when you start from the more exploratory mindset.

But I haven’t been on that easy back road on a daily basis in years. Even writing retreats, when I was able to have them, required some time to get back into a slower mindset.

So now I’m brainstorming some ways to get my brain to slow down on the regular. I want to boost the environment that will in turn encourage my creativity. But I believe it will take some training! Here’s some ideas:

• Schedule in some daydreaming time. I find myself constantly searching for something to distract me—SM, music, something to read—not good! I think some “thinking time” is in order, even if I can only do 5 minutes at a time.
• Walking in nature—I’m hoping the weather cools soon so I can do this.

• Journal—I used to call this a “brain dump”. It often helps me to get racing thoughts out of my brain. I need to do this more often!
• Cut down on communicating—my environment has allowed me to already do this. Less emails, calls, people coming by.
• Lower consumption of TV, internet, etc. Also doing this. No wifi access at work, so less lunchtime binging.
• Relaxation activities, like meditation, breathing. Already doing this, but working to ramp it up.
• Distract myself with something fun, like trip planning (see last blog for more on this) or getting together with friends or planning regular date nights.

How do you “downshift” your brain?

Take Care,

Dani