Noticing my own behaviour, I can clearly see how difficult it has been to actively engage in the things I love. In the specific time I would set for engaging in something for myself, which wasn’t my work or studies, I believed that relaxing was good enough to feel better. No wonder most of us feel horrible after we’ve spent the whole day binge watching television shows. While we might be convinced it’s what helps us have some down time, it’s usually just a way to distract ourselves from what might have drained us out in the first place. To put it simply, distractions help us shift our attention from concentrating on something else. However, the key word here is ‘shift’. Even if they help us relieve the mental effort of concentration, we usually don’t refocus this attention into something that stimulates our mind and encourages the release of positive brain chemicals. Instead, the passive activities we take up, such as spending hours on YouTube, shuffling through extremely long playlists of almost any song you found bearable, sitting at cafes with no clear idea what you really like about it, eating fatty or sugary foods, cleaning the house or just about anything. It doesn’t matter what I list out. We’ve all got a list of things that we don’t question their real value in our lives.
It may sound ridiculous, but getting yourself to do the things you really love and enjoy is a habit you’re going to have to force. Who thought this is where the real effort would be required? The interesting thing is that our lazy brain doesn’t want to even put the energy into making us feel good, so we’re going to have to do it ourselves. To really start incorporating the energising and refueling activities and hobbies in your life, you can start with creating your list. Everything mentioned in it should be something you are capable of doing by yourself and something you would do consistently and enjoy – not things that have short life spans of enjoyment. The key to creating this list is the degree to which you make it specific. Keeping your items on the list vague will just convince your mind that you can replace them with something that sounds almost the same, therefore tricking you into taking part in an alternative version that doesn’t feel the same. It’s almost like eating instant cup noodles instead of cooking fresh noodles and convincing yourself they taste equally fulfilling. It’s up to you, because you just need to ask yourself, which one would you eat forever?
Distractions are great, but they don’t define you. So don’t let them.
* The author can be contacted on Instagram @sincerelysanah
