The First 30 Minutes
I’m trying a little experiment as of late. I’m trying to set the tone for my days a little better by engaging in 30 minutes of quiet. I start the day off by feeding the cat, making coffee, and then sitting down to dump thoughts into my notebook. This is where I state how I slept, what I need to do today, and anything else that’s on my mind. I try to avoid any screens unless it’s for a particular purpose, such as writing or reading something that’s not social media. I do try to avoid news, however.
This is all an attempt to start my day a little more grounded. I’ve seen some advice lately of how important the first 30 minutes of your day is. Some people meditate, others write, others read a book, while others may go for a workout. But, it’s about grounding yourself in yourself before taking on the chaos of the coming day.
I’ve been trying this for about two weeks now. So far, I’m filling up my journals nicely. This is the time where again, I set up my upcoming day, but it’s where I review my previous days and make sure they’re accounted for in my bigger journals. This allows me to retain the information I’ve jotted down and see the patterns in it. For example, I can see I’ve been very spotty in taking a walk every day and I’m even worse at meditation. This isn’t a chance to shame myself, but to question why I’m not acting on it. One thing I know about myself is I’m better off when I do something the moment I think about it. Otherwise, there’s a good chance it’ll slip through the cracks. I’m a horrible procrastinator.
This is also where I started my 30-day social media sabbatical. Note, I’m banning myself from algorithmic social media. I’m still very much on Mastodon, mainly because I don’t feel bad using it. The people I follow seem decent and I rarely see any rage-bait posted there. The instance I’m on is fairly inclusive and is moderated well to keep the bullshit away.
I also allow myself to read some tech news or the personal blog posts from sites I follow that have trickled in overnight. Again, this is stuff that’s probably not going to stress me out.
I’m not perfect. I still feel the pull to get on socials the minute I sit down at my desk. There’s a natural reflex I had of flipping my laptop open, launching my browser, and instantly typing “fac…”, to launch Facebook. More and more, the habit has become to grab my notebook and a pen. Instead of leaving my notebook on my wallet tray with my car keys and wallet, I leave it on my desk, ready to go when I need it. Since it’s one of those things I don’t want to leave home without, I’ve had no issue in remembering to grab it off my desk when I leave.
I understand there’s still more work to be done for myself. I’ve been trying to read more, but I believe reading right before bed would be a good plan. However, I still leave the TV on when I doze off and turn it off in the middle of the night. I’ve always done this to drown out the noise in my head by giving myself something enjoyable to look at (usually sports 1). To address this, I’m going to try to remember to bring a book to read instead when I go to bed, as sometimes the best way to form a habit is by leaving things in places where you’ll remember them. This is about how I’m closing my mind for the day by getting it off the events of the day and instead focusing on something beneficial to me. For instance, I’m currently reading Atomic Habits.
I’m simply striving to improve my well-being. The older I get, the more I feel the importance of being grounded. This isn’t as much about a “work-life balance” as much as it is about being fully committed to work when I’m there and fully committed to not working when I’m not at work. No system is ever perfect or entirely complete. This approach will evolve to my needs over time. But, at least with starting with that quiet 30 minutes in the morning, I’m setting the stage for some better days ahead of me.
- : If you guys only knew how often I fell asleep to sports, you’d think I didn’t really like sports that much. ↩︎
