Kourtney Kardashian
Taking time each day for unplugging should be a rule and non-negotiable. It’s important to recharge, relax, enjoy, play, and connect with ourselves. How else can we be great partners, parents, coworkers, siblings, and friends if we are not well-balanced, healthy, and happy ourselves? Two ways to approach the habit of unplugging are through the concepts of Healthy Solitude and Slowing Down. These things are essential when it comes to taking time for ourselves.
Solitude is the soil into which we plant our healthy living habits. Without solitude and taking time for self-care, our mental, emotional, and physical health cannot put down roots and bloom. Learning to enjoy being alone is a critical task for anyone. It’s hard to carve out time for ourselves with our busy lives, but it’s essential for our happiness. We learn to travel inward, to validate ourselves from within the bejeweled recesses of our own soul, and to cultivate a connection with the natural world. Visualization, meditation, and silence become our allies in a life free from drama and chaos. We begin to value our own company, nurturing our uniqueness and ultimately creating more self-love. We can go take a hike or walk alone (in a safe area), see a movie on own own, take a bike ride, cook, go grocery shopping, have a bite to eat by ourselves, take an art or language class, go to a concert, meditate, work out, and so much more.
This is a big one. Our world races along at such a terrifyingly rapid pace these days. We all feel the need to keep up, to rush, to be super productive, and to get ahead. What we don’t realize is that in doing so, we’re sacrificing the deep joy of being in the present moment, just accepting everything exactly as it is, and taking time to smell the roses.
Taking a pause during our day to just enjoy the scenery, turn off our cell phone, breathe, or read some jokes online can do wonders for our mental state. It’s so important to take life with a grain of salt, and just detach a little bit when things feel out of control.
Slowing down doesn’t mean reneging on our responsibilities, either. It just means inserting some downtime into our day so we can renew and recharge. It means creating little rituals we enjoy that can help to balance the stress of modern urban living.
Can you take a moment to breathe in and out deeply, allowing yourself to connect with your environment? Can you make yourself a nice hot cup of tea and savor it? Can you take a moment to talk to a child and let them tell you a knock-knock joke? Can you pause to smile at a stranger? These small actions can help create tremendous space in your life and a more open, positive mental climate.
When we are mindful of giving ourselves the gift of healthy solitude and the ability to slow down a bit, we will notice more peace and joy in our lives.
For more information on these topics, go to www.rewiredprograms.com.
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Erica Spiegelman is a wellness specialist, recovery counselor, and author of the new book The Rewired Life (2018) as well as Rewired: A Bold New Approach to Addiction & Recovery(2015), the Rewired Workbook (2017), the Rewired Coloring Book (2017), all published by Hatherleigh Press. Erica holds a bachelor’s degree in literature from the University of Arizona and is a California State Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor (CADAC)-II from UCLA. For more information, visit Erica’s website or follow @Erica Spiegelman on Instagram.