Every night I open my mini ipad and read the news. So much negativity, so much “bad” news. Some nights I find my stomach churning from the unsettling articles. I don’t like being so sensitive, but that’s the way I’m wired. Finally, this morning I thought to myself, “why do I read this stuff? I have to stop.”
For health we often say, “we are what we eat.” If we feed our bodies with a balanced nutritious diet, we have more energy. We all agree to this right?
For mental health, they say, “we are what we think.” So we need to feed our brain with nutritious information that helps us stay mentally healthy too, right?
I’ve been thinking about how much physical energy we have each day. As I get older, it feels as though it’s diminishing. I probably need to exercise more. The point is we each have a certain amount of energy per day. If this is true, we could also assume we each have a certain amount of mental capacity per day.
At the moment, I’m learning about social media and other marketing strategies for my business. That’s really not my forte. So, I struggle to comprehend this new information. It drains my brain to concentrate on this. I finally realized that my consumption of unnecessary and depressing news at night is actually hampering my ability to learn things that are more beneficial for my mental health.
Reading the news in bed has become a mindless habit. However, I didn’t realize the negative impact it was causing. Becoming aware of my habits has been a new part of my journey to understand how I want to spend my time on this earth. Little habits over a long time can have a big impact. So, I found that assessing my habits have helped me become aware of how I spend my down time.
Why not check your down time too? You may be surprised at what you do.
As an exercise, I encourage you to reassess your daily habits. Are they doing you good? Or do you do them just because that’s what you’ve been doing for so long? All we really need to do is to replace negative habits with constructive habits. Maybe instead of watching a reality TV show, you can learn how to play an instrument, cook a new recipe or help a neighbor. Such simple daily changes can bring us a better quality of life and more fulfillment over time.
