I have a hard time creating habits that stick so when I decided to try a few new things for my well-being during this uncertain time, I told myself I just need to do these for one week instead of creating the idea that I “must do all these things every day for 30 days if I want to see any benefits.” Here are the small actions I added into my life for 7 days and how they changed my brain.
- Meditating for 10 minutes: I’ve gone through waves of meditation the last few years. As I said earlier, I have a hard time creating habits but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand the benefits. I love the Headspace app because it has a tracker that keeps a log of how many minutes you meditate and your meditating streak. I am a visual person who thrives off crossing things off a to-do list so seeing those numbers rise does something for my serotonin levels and makes me want to keep going. After meditating for 10 minutes a day, I felt more connected to my mind and more in control of myself and my reactions. When I’d get stressed or anxious about things out of my control, I was able to bring myself back to the focused breathing state which really helped me find a clearer mindset in the situation. Meditation isn’t a groundbreaking practice, but starting small and having an end goal allowed me to create an attainable goal to accomplish and still see the benefits without having to trap myself into a 30-day commitment.
- Yoga (or stretching) for 10 minutes: Again, yoga is something I do because it makes my body and mind feel connected and more in control. I used to have this idea that I needed to do a full sequence for at least an hour for it to “count” as exercise. I would get overwhelmed and not do anything which then caused more stress. When I allowed myself to simply be on my mat for 10 minutes (I set a timer so it would really only be 10 minutes), I knew there was an end in sight. This gave me the freedom to make the 10 minutes into whatever I needed it to be right then instead of thinking it had to be regimented and perfect. Sometimes I would flow through movements and the time flew by while other days I’d literally just lay for minutes at a time. These 10 minutes a day improved my practice because I was putting way less pressure on myself.
- Writing 2000 words a day: One of my favorite authors writes 2000 words per day. I’m not an author, but I do know my brain works better when I can get all my thoughts onto paper and work through them outside of my head. I added writing 2000 words to my habits because I wanted to see if it would help my emotional and mental states. I started a google doc and titled it “2000 words/day.” Again, I only was going to do this for 7 days and see what happened. It’s been more than a week, and I still have been filling in my doc for each day because I LOVE the effect it’s had on me. It started out as a stream-of-consciousness and then turned into developing characters for an imaginary book I’ll write someday. Sometimes the words are observations of the world outside my window or of how I’m feeling that day. Sometimes they are a detailed entry of my meals that day. Whatever the words end up being, I feel clearer and lighter afterward. Not only is there less clutter in my brain, but the ideas and thoughts are on a page so I can reference them and not worry about losing a thought or forgetting something that has been weighing on my mind. Also, this process has been highly beneficial to force me to work through things I’m thinking about because I have to get to two thousand. Before starting this, I had no idea what 2000 words looked like but now I know they amount to about 3 pages single-spaced and take me about an hour to write — faster or slower depending on how my mind is moving that day.
As a result of doing these three things for a week, I slept better, felt less anxious, got some great ideas written out and expanded upon, lessened my screen time even if only by 20 minutes, and overall felt better about my existence. These were three goals I wanted to complete each day which didn’t take much time. I highly recommend trying one or all of these for a week and seeing how your perspective and mindset shift. If 2000 words is too daunting, try 1000 or 500. If you don’t have 10 minutes for meditation, try 5. If you hate yoga, just stretch your body when you wake up to get the blood flowing. Tailor them to your lifestyle but do something to create a positive change if you’re feeling stuck in a rut like so many of us are because you deserve it. If you are doing great, I’m happy for you! I’d love to know what’s working for you because I’m excited to continue making small changes for a week and seeing the results.
