Happy New Year! Cody Jenkins here again 🙂 Mindfulness is something we talk a lot about with clients at Nutshell Nutrition. Mindfulness with eating, mindfulness with exercise, mindfulness with self-care and the list goes on… In order to be in tune with your body, we have to cultivate mindfulness.
So, how are we expected to practice mindfulness when we live in a world that begs us to be distracted? Social media, busy workloads, kids running circles around you, the hustle and bustle of a busy city, etc. I think we can all relate and man, the struggle is real.
I personally struggle a lot with this. I am always aiming towards a more intentional life and by all means not perfect. Aiming is the key word there. The minute something stressful or seemingly difficult arises, I jump straight to distractions. It’s like I subconsciously want to escape, when in reality I know I am capable of handling the situation. It just feels hard. And I’d rather do a lot of other things than navigate the hard things. The odd thing is…it’s often the most simple tasks that overwhelm me.
For example, I will be sitting in the nursery feeding John when all of a sudden I think of the massive (or not so massive) to-do list I have hanging over my head. Laundry, grocery store, cook dinner, etc. Instead of brainstorming how I am going to tackle my tasks and make a simple plan, I immediately strive to escape and reach for my phone. I begin scrolling through Instagram, Pinterest or even my emails in order to escape. Has anyone else ever felt this way before? Maybe, like me, you don’t even realize you are doing it.
After many talks with my husband, I became super conflicted of this about a month ago and realized it was trickling into all areas of my life. I suddenly felt like I was moving through my day in slow motion, unable to accomplish anything and feeling a little “off.” While I know some of this could be attributed to postpartum hormones, a lot of this was because I was feeling distracted and unable to rest and enjoy where I am.
Restless and distracted. Anything but present. And what I desire is to be present. I think we’re called to be present. It’s how we experience the fullness of life. We do not have to get everything done and we do not have to be perfect. Life is short and hard enough.
Little by little we will make progress in whatever our intentions or goals may be. Even if it is just folding laundry or cooking dinner. Maybe you fold that one pile sitting on the chair next to your bed. Or maybe you cook boxed mac and cheese for dinner starting off before you move to an actual recipe. It’s all about the baby steps.
JB (my husband) recently encouraged me to delete my Instagram app and not log in for a whole month. Have any of you guys ever done this before? It was incredibly freeing. It also was eye opening to realize how often I reached for my phone to look for that tiny app. It had become second nature, almost reactive, in my day-to-day life. When something came up that I didn’t want to deal with…Instagram was my coping mechanism.
I think this goes beyond Instagram. We all have coping mechanisms. It’s how we survive and move through life.
Our body’s primal drive to eat is its coping mechanism when it senses restriction.
Slowing down energy expenditure is our body’s way of coping with inadequate energy intake.
Online shopping is a way of coping when feelings of inadequacy arise.
Controlling food is a way of coping with an unpredictable transition in life.
Compulsively exercising is a way to escape the anxiety of what we ate.
Scrolling through Instagram is a way to numb out and not have to deal with our to do list.
Reading through diet articles on the internet is way we try to feel more in control during a chaotic day.
Eating super clean is a coping mechanism for other internal struggles in our lives – insecurity, body image struggles, shame, etc.
Spending time on Facebook reading about other people’s lives is a way to cope so we don’t have to deal with our own problems.
These are just some ways that we cope in life. Coping mechanisms can be good things. The key is to develop healthy coping mechanisms that best serve us.
For me, in this smaller instance, it was making a step by step to do list so my day felt more manageable and less stressful. So I could be present even in the small tasks. I do not plan to be off of Instagram forever but for now, it feels really GOOD.
Is there something in your life that is preventing you from enjoying the simple, everyday life? Maybe taking some time to think through habits and behaviors that are not serving you would be helpful. How does that help you cope? What would be a healthier coping mechanism?
If you’ve noticed yourself feeling less mindful in areas of your life, you’re not alone. Maybe you can set some very small goals or intentions to increase overall mindfulness in the new year. Start with something small and not overwhelming. For me, it was deleting social media. What ideas do you have? Share them in the comments below!
Need some inspiration? I so enjoyed this book by Lara Casey. Check it out if you’d like.
For me a great way to increase mindfulness is to make sure I don’t get sucked in to Netflix or scrolling the web in the morning and get moving on some kind of task I want to accomplish. I feel like this sets me up for a more productive day and I don’t wind up feeling off and like I didn’t even do anything that day. I also like to make sure I try to leave the house or plan to do something with friends. I feel like this shakes me out of my head which is great.
xxMeah
Making plans with friends helps me so much too. I will brood over the same anxious thought constantly, but seeing friends face to face and chatting really takes me out of my head and gives me new perspective.
I deleted Instagram for a while too and found it really helpful for increasing mindfulness and presence. I’m back on it now, but so far, the awareness I gained during the break is helping me to keep healthy boundaries with it.
I deleted facebook a few years ago, and instagram about 6 months ago. I found myself always scrolling through my phone mindlessly instead of being present with my daughter, friends and family. So silly. I love life without social media! I worried about “missing things”, but I’ve realized that people who truly care to be in touch with me will always go out of their way to personally share photos and special moments with me. I still have issues scrolling through bloglovin and news apps. Thinking about deleting those next, and having intentional time only on my computer where I use those websites. It’s too easily accessible on my phone.
I deleted instagram and Facebook for the month of December to be more present during all the fun holiday activities and I haven’t re-downloaded them. I enjoy not scrolling, not procrastinating and not sub-consciously comparing myself. I may go back, but not just yet….
Similar to what you’ve done, I trying to do we work from my computer and leave my phone on the charger or put away to be used only for texts/calls. Instagram, googling, scrolling, etc. all of these keep me contanstly distracted from the hum drum stuff on my to-do Lisy. Great reminder post!!
Cody this was so great and relatable! I do the same darn thing with Instagram some days- especially if those days don’t require being the most present (like when I don’t have a plan or classes or meetings). I’m working on being more present in my non crazy days because those are important too. Thanks for the reminder 🙂
This post was so relatable. This year, one of my goals is to just slow down and not be so focused on occupying my mind with some type of social media at all times. It’s so hard to just get something down instead of avoiding it with social media. I also deleted Instagram (for three months) and it was amazing. But now that I’m back on Instagram, I’m trying to figure out how to balance keeping up with people but not spending every freaking moment on Instagram. I think what I might do is delete Instagram from my phone and just use it on my computer, now that you can view other people’s stories on Instagram.com… Anyways, thanks for a great post.
Woof I so resonate with the Instagram scrolling habit. Usually I use it as procrastination before going to bed if I’m too lazy to actually get ready for bed. And then I end up spending way too much time on it and go to bed much later than I wanted to and end up not reading my book before bed night after night. And for what? Very very rarely do I actually come across something on Instagram that I feel changed my life profoundly (yes, it happens, but obviously not daily). I don’t think I’ll delete the app (I need it for my blog) but this year I definitely want to be more mindful of how much time I spend on it. Perhaps set aside a particular chunk of time each day to be on it and not scroll mindlessly throughout the day.
I just downloaded the Moment app, its a great way to track how you spend time on your phone. It tracks your total phone time and pick ups throughout the day, and can also track what apps you are using and how much time on each. I’m already more mindful of how often I look at my phone and my time spent on social media. I’ve been questioning if I should revert to a non-smart phone (do those even exist?) but I’ve also realized how much I use my phone for “good” things, like reading my bible app, using maps when driving, taking photos of my kids, and listening to occasional podcasts, all which I feel good about.
This is spot on! I find myself always thinking what’s next on my to-do list. I get easily anxious when I haven’t been productive. It’s so important to take a step back and allow yourself to be lazy sometimes. Love this!