Discardia_ More Life, Less Stuff - Dinah Sanders [44]
Let go of some tension
Go slow. Be kind, especially to yourself. Unknot your knots. Sometimes you need to lose your mood in an absorbing but not challenging project. Take an easy win. You’ll break out of brooding and give yourself some positive progress of which you can feel proud.
Clutter canary in the coalmine
If you are kicking yourself about getting behind on housework, stop and think about whether you’ve been down in the dumps lately. For many people—and I’m certainly one of them—not having the enthusiasm or willpower to take care of their surroundings can be a warning sign that they are in a depressive spell. Try viewing clutter as a reminder to check in with yourself. Are you doing things that help you manage your mood? Avoiding stuff that can trigger your depression?
When you find yourself engaged in bad habits, take time to check in with your mood and see if you can arrange things so you’re more constructive with your emotions. Instead of treating clutter (or compulsive shopping or eating junk food or whatever your personal bugbear is) as a stick with which to beat yourself, use it as one of those reflective warning markers at the side of the road, which keep you from driving into a ditch.
Getting out
One of the best things you can do for yourself when you are repeatedly down in the dumps is to discard your isolation. Make a deal with yourself that you are not going home this evening without first going out and about.
Don't go to a movie. Don't go someplace where no one talks to each other. Go to a coffeehouse that has board games and find someone to play with you. Try the senior center or chat with neighbors working in their yards. Go to a bowling alley or ice rink to ask for some help to improve your skills; a pub to improve your darts game; or the grocery store to pick a good avocado. Walk through the dog park and see if someone will let you throw a ball for their enthusiastic puppy. Visit the bookstore and ask for recommendations from other customers. Go to the coffee shop at a museum and find someone who'll take you to their favorite piece and tell you why they like it. Pretend to be a tourist and ask people to tell you the best place to hang out in your town. Do not come home until you've had at least three interesting conversations.
Even a smaller version of this will help. If the weather isn't absolutely horrid—and, if it's just sprinkling a little, you aren't excused!—pop out of the house this evening and walk about a bit. Go look at the park or head up to the nearest high ground to get a view into the distance. Stroll down to the shops and pick up some fresh bread or something nice for dinner or dessert. Look around as you walk. Make eye contact with people. Smile and greet them as you pass.
Exercise will help you out of the doldrums as well as strengthen your body, help control your weight, and thus help you live longer. Unfortunately, when you're depressed, you're also lethargic, but you don't have to go jogging for an hour to shake that off. Walk down to the end of the block. Go ahead and do it. Grab the recycling, take it down to the bin, and just keep going. Take a look around at what's happening on your street. Any new neighbors moving in? Flowers blooming in yards or windows? Kids playing? Houses getting painted? Garden gnomes? Trees budding? Animal tracks? Sleeping cats? Barking dogs? What's the exceedingly local news?
When you get to the corner, see how you feel. Maybe you'll want to go all the way around the block. If not, don't worry about it. Come home and do a little stretching inside.
Every day, walk for 10 minutes.
Ten minutes. That we can definitely do, you and I.
Part Three
September Discardia: Core Principle #2—Quality over Quantity
Make room in your life for awesomeness
In September, let Discardia be your reminder to aim for what’s ideal, in just the right amount.