Do you ever feel like life is yanking you around by the neck?
It’s pretty easy to feel like that. There are many demands on our time and people who need things from us. But feeling like you are on a treadmill that you can’t turn off and is only going faster and faster isn’t very pleasant.
One thing I’ve done over the years to combat this feeling is to leave some space between activities. To take a minute (like, actually sixty seconds) to sit quietly and breathe, maybe look out the window, and rest, without rushing off to the next activity.
One other benefit of doing this is that it helps with my work flow. Often times when I’m sitting there doing nothing, the next activity that I’d like to do pops into my mind and I get excited about working on it (or maybe not excited-excited, especially if it’s like, “go fold the laundry” but there’s at least the feeling of flow between activities). Whereas jumping from activity to activity can often make my work flow a little less deliberate because it’s more reactionary.
A Simple Process
So, here’s what this looks like. Let’s say I’m in the process of writing a story and there are plenty of other writing-related or publishing activities to do later. When I’m finished writing, instead of leaping right away into that next activity, I’ll close all the open windows on my computer. I don’t actually shut my laptop, but I close out all the browser tabs and open folders and whatever else I had open so I’m just looking at my background.
Next, I may stay seated, but turn away from my desk, put my feet up on the window sill and watch what’s going on outside the window. There’s a tree right there, so there are often birds around. There may be neighbors outside and I might watch them a moment (though I try not to go too Rear Window on anyone.) And maybe I focus in on my breathing, just noticing my inhales and exhales.
If I want to get really advanced, I may actually stand up, find my little basketball and shoot a few hoops at the toy hoop in my office. It gets me into my body and takes my mind off of whatever I was working on before or what I need to work on later.
At this point, a minute or two or three may have passed and I can get back to work, but I’m more refreshed than I would have been otherwise and ready to focus again.
Of course, the truth is, I don’t always do this. 🙂 Sometimes, I’m so caught up in what I’m doing that I do go rushing off into the next activity, and then the one after that too. But I have found that this kind of rushing tends to increase my stress, so I really do try to leave those spaces in my day. And, honestly, what are we rushing to anyway?
Amanda Linehan is the author of North, about a young woman on the run from her past, the law and an old adversary out to get her. Her newest release is Bored To Death: A Vampire Thriller, about a 300-year-old vampire trying to restore the balance between life and death. She has published five novels.
a friend of mine is a caterer, and sometimes i work for her. she has this thing she does in the middle of the kitchen madness, where she yells ’30 seconds!’ and everyone stops what they’re doing. for 30 seconds we all just breathe.
then back to rushing madly about.
it’s so brilliant, and works so well. i always say i’m going to put into practice in my regular life, and then forget.
thanks for the reminder.
Suz – That is hilarious and a great idea. I bet it works wonders.