it's super common in today’s world to be bombarded with options. when you could do this, be that or live there, how the eff do you home in on what to choose? well, you listen to your gut. and, in order to hear it, you go a step beyond periodically drowning out the noise and choose to fully amplify the silence. stillness. a reminder to find yourself among the many. how? here’s a list of my five go to practices… turn all of your notifications off. even the ones for your day job (bananas, i know). keep your devices out of the bedroom. this includes, and especially means, your phone-that-you-use-as-an-alarm-clock. just stop. get a manual one. put your phone in the next room (and, if you live in a smol space, that means out of reach of your bed.) carve out an hour of your day where you do something just for you. reading, drawing, writing, listening to music, staring at the horizon line. it doesn’t matter, just create that time and protect it. try out meditation. start with 5 minutes, explore all the available apps, have fun with it. i personally use headspace and have been on an on/off journey with meditation for ~8 years. it’s been just what i needed and it’s also not been a cure all. the thing i’ve learned from it? everything you need you already have. make one day of your week an internet free day. no texts, no email, no social media, no non-sense. you’ll be surprised what this forces you to prioritize + how you figure out ways to set you and your people up for success without the internet at your fingertips. i’ll be candid, that last one is tough. it’s no longer common in society to be fully separate or alone. even when quarantined during the depths of the pandemic we were, and have been, alone together. i struggle with taking a tech free day every sunday. when i’m meant to be offline i inevitably fall into a trap of wanting to know what’s happening. how do i overcome the urge not to look or engage? well, sometimes i don’t. this past weekend is a great example. i was in twitter + on my phone all weekend. (now you know, if you see me on a sunday in twitter replies, feel free to ask me wtf i’m doing there. 👀 😂) in retrospect i chalk this up to stress. when i’m feeling it more than usual, my phone boundaries + internet use are the first things to go out the window. normally i’d have this all accounted for, with tweets scheduled and inboxes managed. that all fell down this time + by the time sunday rolled around, not only was i unprepared to take the day offline, i felt i couldn’t. that, in and of itself, is a glaring red flag for me. we should all feel we can take the time and space to be away from it all. if anything, slowing down ensures we’ll be better able to speed up when it’s time. when i’m fully engaged in the practices mentioned above, i’m my most creative. my most calm. my most present. in the end that’s all i hope for all of us. here’s a peek at a piece i’ve just finished, you may recognize it from a sketchbook shot i shared a few posts back. it’s gone through some iterations, but i feel like where it landed is an embodiment of this journey we’re all on. pushing, pulling, ebbing, flooding. finding our way together and on our own. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mbranson.substack.com
