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Just do one thing
The other evening, I was cooking a meal for dinner. I was fiddling with my phone to set up my favorite podcast. Then I needed to google the recipe. Kids pass by and ask me questions. Eventually, I found that instead of pork and beans, I have made vegetarian pork and beans. I had to chop up some ham and add it at the end. I have many roles in life – mom, interpreter, wife, child, home manager, daughter, etc. During COVID, I play all of those roles from my house. Most of the time, there is a strong temptation to several things at once. I check my work messages…
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Is this actually helping me feel better?
When I get anxious, I tend to run away from it by surfing Facebook on my phone. I feel uncomfortable and nervous and Facebook is something very easy and mindless. My mind sees it as an escape — a pressure release valve. I always picture Facebook as fun posts about my friends, like a fun little mini-vacation into the world of grown-ups. The thing is when I’m done, I often feel worse than I felt before. You never know what kind of content you’re going to get with Facebook, but there’s usually a lively debate or scary news feature that’s making the rounds. It can leave me feeling like I…
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A Model of the Creative Life
When I started running a few years ago, I did it for myself, but it has had a side benefit of making my kids interested in trying fitness too. They see me go for a run or a bike ride and they want to come too. They are all under 10 years old and three out of four have already run a 5k race, which wasn’t something I could do when I was younger. My youngest daughter wanted her own set of hand weights because she likes to do yoga and strength work on the mat with me. You often hear about how it’s important to model healthy eating and…
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Sleep is the best medicine
Sometimes when I am having trouble with my attitude or life in general, I realize I am struggling with the basics. It could be hunger, which is easy to fix, but often the simplest answer is deep down tiredness. If I haven’t slept well the night before, I will feel it the next day. With four young kids, often we have some issue during the night that causes broken sleep. Another key issue for me is bedtime. When evening rolls around, I want to stay up reading or surfing my phone. Sometimes the evening is the only time Andy and I can have an uninterrupted grown-up conversation. All these things…
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Creative romps and deep dives
I have recently moved into the sewing phase of my quarantine life. I have noticed most of the things I do to add joy and fun to my life are sensory experiences and are hands-on creative activities. I like the feel of yarn in my fingers and the scraping of paint on canvas. It helps me get out of my head and into my body and the present moment. Sometimes I need to remember to push myself to do something creative instead of wasting time on my phone, but I’m always excited to get started on my current artistic experience. I also like to write for creative expression, but it…
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10 Steps to Break Free of Social Media Addiction
Social media addiction. Is that even a thing? Researchers can’t agree if overuse of social media is really an addiction or just a compulsive habit. I’m not an expert, so I can’t answer that question. All I know is that my social media usage was unhealthy. I used Facebook to wake up in the morning. I used Facebook in bed before falling asleep. I spent hours and hours each day on social media. My usage was unhealthy for me. Many times, I would get upset about a post on social media and become anxious and sucked into some internet argument. This was me: It was difficult for me to “just cut…
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Outside in the Fresh Air – Smells matter too
This winter I have been doing most of my bike rides on the indoor trainer. Riding indoors is nice because I can do it while I watch my Continuing Education units for work. I can do it while the kids are playing video games and still keep an ear out for anything going wrong. I can ride the trainer before or after the sun comes up. It’s not cold or wet on the trainer inside. Dogs never chase me on the trainer, although sometimes I think my cat is going to get her whiskers caught in my spokes. Because it was the New Years and I wanted to start the…
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Where do I find the time?
Prioritizing creative living As a mom of four kids, time is in short supply. Where do I find the time to do art or sew or write? The first step for me was admitting how much time I wasted during the day on my phone. Most phones have a time tracking feature for different apps. It can tell you in a second where you are spending your digital hours. As I mentioned in a previous post, my drug of choice is Facebook. I realized that Facebook was sucking too much of my time and not adding color to my life. I used my Android phone’s Digital Wellness features to put…
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Connecting with Strangers
Finding relationship through phone banking This election season, I signed up to do something that introverts hate to do. I signed up to make phone calls. I support a local candidate and I wanted to help them with their campaign. It was something I felt strongly about, but I never would intentionally make a period of my day all about making phone calls to strangers. It’s certainly not my idea of fun. I see it as self-flagellation as an offering to the universe. At first I thought phone banking would be about the power of the things in the script. I thought it would be about the key points I…
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Spinning My Wheels on Facebook
Wasting time on social media is my drug of choice. If I am tired and want an escape, I scroll through my timeline. If I am anxious or obsessing about something, Facebook is my mindless escape. The thing is during the COVID-19 staying-at-home time, I am often overstressed or anxious about things. I don’t have a whole lot of time to myself and we are disconnected from family. The kids need to do school from home and Andy and I are still working. It’s a lot, so my need for a quick and easy escape is magnified. The thing is, when I crave Facebook, I am looking for fun and…