Turning Over a New Leaf

I think it's helping me stay sane! (Well. A bit saner...)

I'm a week in now on a new habit.

One I've known for years I needed to adopt.

Sigh.

We humans not only fail to follow other people's good advice, we often don't even heed our own!

“Life is a long lesson in humility.” – James M. Barrie

I realized about a week ago now that I needed to stop looking at anything on the Internet in the morning – because looking at Facebook/email/Substack postings & "Notes" invariably makes me feel anxious.

Antsy.

Can sometimes set me positively spinning.

So. Last Saturday I did it.

Spent the morning doing other stuff.

Working on postings (I often have several items on the go & don't always publish things in the order in which I've drafted them. Some never get published at all!).

& other odds & ends of things (my to-do list is pretty much endless, after all).

It turned out to be so enjoyable not taking in the world's craziness, I was very reluctant to dive back into it at all that day. In fact, I kind of dreaded it!

So, for the past eight days, I've created a new kind of oasis of calm for myself.

Note: I am not creating some kind of new iron-clad prison for myself out of this.

So, for example, on the morning after Canada's recent federal election (rather a nail-biter for maybe most Canadians?), I went online early, anxious to get information about the results.

And I've given myself permission to check the weather forecast (or Google-map a transit route) if I feel the need to.

But mostly I'm staying away from that noisy parade of information (& drama) for at least half a day at a time.

I think it's helping me feel saner!

• Calmer

• Less rushed, less rushy

• Less nerves-feeling-all-jangled

And if that isn't nice, I don't know what is! A phrase the late Kurt Vonnegut picked up from his uncle & encouraged his readers to find occasions to say as often as possible.

After all, as many of us now believe, staying sane is pretty much our # 1 priority these days!

Janet

p.s. hmmmm. It’s kind of like that thing you’re always told by flight attendants on airplanes. Put on your own oxygen mask first! You can’t help anyone else if you can’t breathe yourself … right??

p.p.s. on Friday I needed to go online early to muck around on my Substack with a draft posting I was working on, & made the mistake of reading just one new essay by a writer I greatly admire. I'd swear doing that threw my whole morning off. Great posting! But it threw me off – got me spinning. Gonna do my best to keep this new leaf turned over!!

p.p.p.s. Mark Twain said

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs, one step at a time.”

I say, some habits can actually be pretty easy to change – maybe easier than we anticipate!