Recently I started to feel really overwhelmed all the time.
My brain felt fried, my ideas felt flat and I felt exhausted all of the time.
I realized that I needed to start being more intentional with how I spend my time during the day and I started to make changes to slow down.
I’ve been trying to slow down and take it one step at a time. This sounds like a small change but I’ve seen MASSIVE results in my mental health.
Today I want to share the things I’ve been doing to try and help you too.
Take a Daily Walk
I used to wake up and start frantically trying to get all of the things I need to get done to start the day. I don’t really like mornings and my goal was always to get everything done and start working as early as possible.
I set the intention to start every morning off by walking my dog around the neighborhood.
You guys, I know this sounds like the simplest thing ever but it has been one of the best things I’ve done for myself in a long time.
While I walk the dog I listen to an inspirational podcast and try to practice being in the present moment. Everytime my brain starts to wander off and think about work that has to get done or worry about the future I redirect my focus back onto the podcast.
Meditate
I’ve been using the HeadSpace app and it has really helped me next level my mental health. I used to be scared to meditate. Yes, really.
I felt like I wouldn’t be able to sit still and trying to quite my mind sounded really hard. I love the HeadSpace app because it teaches you how to meditate step by step. The app costs money (it’s worth every penny) but they have a free series that teaches you how to meditate that is pure gold.
Trust me and just go download it right now.
I only meditate for five minutes a day but I’ve seen HUGE shifts in my overall wellbeing and mindset. This is probably one of the most transformative things I’ve ever added to my routine.
Have Social Media Boundaries
Hello, my name is Faith and I am addicted to my cellphone.
I know some people are going to read that and think I’m making light of addiction. Trust me, I’m not.
When I was in a relationship I was always mindful to stay off my phone in the evening and spend time with my partner. However, once I became single I didn’t have any boundaries around using my cellphone.
As a result, I’m on social media all the time and it has really started to have a negative impact on my life.
In order to help me slow down and take things one step at a time I’ve been working on detoxing myself from consuming so much social media. Every evening at 5:00 pm I’ve been deleting the apps I waste the most amount of time on off of my phone. I use social media for work so in the morning I redownload them so I have them for work hour.
If you don’t need the apps for work experiment with deleting them off your phone for a few days or longer if you want. Unplugging has really helped me stay more present and enjoy the current moment that I’m in.
Journal
I love journaling SO much. I will leave a link for a free mental health journal you can download below and I also have free journal prompts you can use here.
Lately, I’ve been really into bullet journaling. I used to see all these fancy bullet journal pages on Instagram and think to myself “I could never do that”. However, once I looked into it I realized that the bullet journal method doesn’t have to be fancy and it’s really just a great way to organize your notes.
I love writing lists, notes and ideas throughout the day and putting them in my bullet journal has been helping me feel more clear-headed and less overwhelmed. It helps me detox my brain of everything floating around and keep all of my thoughts and ideas organized.
Here are some of the things I write in my journal every day:
- To-do lists
- Ideas for blog posts, podcasts and social media content
- Goals for the day/week/month/year
- Daily affirmations
- Daily gratitude lists
The great things about your journal is that it’s yours and you can write anything in it that you want. I carry my journal around with me all day so I always have it available anytime I have an idea. If you want to learn how to bullet journal check out the video below.
Practice Gratitude
I started my gratitude practice during one of the darkest and most depressing years of my life. Life had really handed me a rock bottom moment and I found myself with nowhere to live, no job and I was grieving the loss of a close friend. I felt completely out of control and like life didn’t have anything good to offer me.
I was spending a lot of time on Pinterest at the time and I kept seeing pins about starting a gratitude journal. I figured I would try it out and I haven’t looked back since.
I keep my gratitude practice really simple and every morning and evening I write ten things I’m thankful for in my journal. It sounds so simple but it has really helped me transform my brain from relentlessly negative to fiercely positive. I have a whole podcast episode about gratitude you can listen to below (make sure to subscribe for future episodes).
Be Present
I am so guilty of worrying about the future or replaying the past over and over. I’ve really been working on being present and staying in the current moment throughout the day and it’s really been helping my burnout.
Before I was constantly worrying and stressed out about all the things that need to get done. It made me feel exhausted and I think it was a huge factor in my burnout.
I’ve been practicing staying in the present moment and anytime I feel like I need to come back to the present moment I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths. I just focus on feeling on being in my body and that usually helps me step back into the current moment. I have a whole post of grounding techniques you can try here.
Learning how to stay in the present moment has been SO helpful and I’ve noticed a huge improvement in my mental health when I started to become more present.
Time Block
Time blocking has been really helping my stay on task and not feel overwhellmed. I schedule certain blocks of time for certain activities and only focus on whatever the activity is during that specific block.
The reason this has been so game-changing is that I started scheduling free time and time for relaxation. Before I started doing this I felt guilty if I wasn’t doing something I felt like was productive. Anytime I tried to read or watch TV I always felt guilty and like I should be cleaning or working on my blog instead.
When I started time blocking I had specific hours in the evening designated for relaxation and I wasn’t allowed to do any other tasks. This really helped me enjoy my time and actually use those hours to recharge.
For more information about time blocking check out the video below.
Stop Comparing Yourself
Social media has made it easier than ever for us to compare ourselves to others. I found myself falling into the trap of believing that everyone else was doing better and had it more figured out than me. This feeling was like a weight on my leg and it dragged me down.
It made me not want to try new projects because everything I made didn’t feel good enough. I was constantly comparing myself to other people online and it was making me feel like crap.
Eventually, I realized I had to change my mindset and shift how I was using social media. I decided to only follow people that inspired me and made me feel like I could live a better life too. I unfollowed anyone that brought up feelings of comparison and inadequacy. Some peopel might feel like that is taking a shortcut and I should have dealt with my habit of comparing myself to other women online head on but I disagree.
Rebuilding confidence is a long and difficult process. I believe it’s OK to make the journey a little easier when you’re able to and unfollowing certain people online had a positive impact on my mental health. I’m still working on not comparing myself to others and I recorded a podcast episode about some of my mindset shift I’ve had. You can listen to it below if you’re interested.
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