How I calmed my brain

Yesterday I happened across a YouTube video that did a deep dive into how insanely difficult life was during the medieval age. It made me appreciate just how amazing a time we live in. A bit later I came across a YouTube short talking about how children nowadays are so addicted to their phones that teaching them has become an insurmountable task. It really hit me hard when the teacher said the students don’t react to being punished as they are just too apathetic to care. The combination of these two videos made me think about my current choices in how I spend my time throughout my day.

It’s been my ritual for years to scroll on TikTok until I’m too tired to hold my phone. This is followed by turning on the large TV in my room and watching a TV episode or movie until I fall asleep. Upon waking up I browse Reddit before I even leave my bed. Until my first meeting in the morning, I’m stuck to my phone either on TikTok or Reddit. This starts my day with dread mostly, since my algorithm seems to think all I want to hear about is the downfall of the United States and how nobody’s doing anything to stop it.

I decided I would do a digital detox. This means no more doom scrolling on TikTok and no more constant updates of America’s demise on Reddit. When I finally got into bed I was worried I wouldn’t be able to sleep without the TV drowning out my thoughts. But surprisingly, I fell asleep even before I had enough time to get bored. Perhaps it was my cat coming into my room, but I awoke thirty minutes or so later and was pleasantly surprised that I had been dreaming similarly to how I do when waking up in the morning. This normally wouldn’t be the case since the TV would normally be droning on. I laid in bed looking at my blank ceiling. Thinking. My brain which now had a moment of quiet was coming up with fresh ideas on how to tackle the variety of tasks on my never-ending task list. It surfed from idea to idea, and I felt unsurprisingly calm.

The calmness continued after waking up the next day. My wife and I headed out to do some shopping and the entire time I was surprised at how calm and relaxed I am. My normal impatience was gone and even my normally overly intense speaking pace had slowed. Even as I got hungry, I was able to control the internal caveman that tends to come out demanding I club an animal for food. Was this calmness all a result of not starting my day learning Trump signed an Executive Order declaring the constitution null and void or some other ridiculous thing I lack the imagination to even imagine?

Well, here we are. It’s day 2 of my detox. And so far, I’m feeling just as calm as I have since I started. My unshackled brain is even starting to analyze other parts of my life. When will I finish that novel? When will I edit that video? When will I write another song? With the new time I’ve acquired, time that was previously reserved for sucking in everyone else’s opinion, maybe I could declutter my office a bit. I could finally do something with the items sitting in my garage and around my house that I promise myself a few times a year that I’m going to sell or donate. As I write this I realize, these items are cluttering not only my physical space but my mental space as well. If they were gone, I would have one less thing to keep track of. Perhaps now it’s time to start an “item detox”. I’ll let you know how it goes. Stay tuned!