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5 Tips That Helped Me for Mental Day-to-Day Clarity

Each celestial rotation of our shared home, as defined by the Gregorian, provides a new day. A notion that shouldn’t be new to anyone, however, it’s often pitched as a continual fresh opportunity to approach the designated hours as they unfold, in a way that is ‘good’, ‘productive’, or ‘meaningful’. That’s until the hours pass by without much thought and you seemingly haven’t done much other than eat and display a monastic-like dedication to the content abundant applications on your smart phone. I’ve spoken previously about the benefit of a daily routine for your mental health each day – essentially what THE ROW is, alongside its mantra, ‘Win The Day’. However, I don’t intend to dwell on that in this blog post but rather share some practical tips that have helped me in providing some clarity and presence for each awakening.

 

Now, for the record, if you don’t feel like your day has been ‘good’, ‘productive’, or ‘meaningful’, that’s absolutely fine. There’s no pressure on each day to do so. There’s also a lot of days and having a ‘good’ day on each occasion is unsustainable lunacy. We need to remind ourselves that we are i). human ii). there’s things we can’t control, and iii). it’s all relative to you and how you want to spend your days. ‘Comparison is the thief of joy’ is a quote that could have a blog post in its own right when looking at how you should spend your time compared to others, but I intend more to suggest that days that aren’t what you hoped them to be, are acceptable and part of the course of life. To add another quote into the mix, I recently first heard, ‘these are the good days’. The intention of saying this to yourself when you’ve had uneventful days. Or even further, the idea that contentment is a better baseline emotion than happiness for the majority of our days. Either way, however you look at it, there should be no external pressure on how you spend your days and ultimately, if they don’t go to plan, that is perfectly acceptable and can be expected.

 

My five practical tips aren’t revolutionary. Nor are they vague idioms that have no meaning when you break them down. They are simply small changes that I have been able to make in my day-to-day activity, that do not require sweeping changes or contemplation. They all come with the intention of helping me cope and manage each day with benefits for my mental well-being. It’s important to say that they are personal. What works for me, may not be what works for you. I’m also avoiding suggestions that I’ve covered in other blog posts that have provided contemplative value – such as reading and writing.

 

I’m conscious that this post could wade into the territory of ‘self-improvement’ and the online personalities ‘bros’ that come with it. I loathe that culture. The ‘grind’, in my opinion, is unsustainable and a sure fire way of damaging your mental well-being. If anything, I’ve found that the opposite is true. Doing the pursuits that make me happier and are of my interest, has made my quality of work and desire stronger. These tips are to fuel that notion, not seeking the 1% marginal gains in day-to-day life.

 

Here are my five that have made me content, happier, stronger, and safe, through a collective application and help form an arsenal of tools, alongside others:

 

  1. Turning off WhatsApp notifications

It took some time for me to realise how quickly I would read or reply to messages I received via WhatsApp. My phone is pretty much by my side constantly and any trigger in form of a notification, often makes me look at it. Unconsciously, I was (am), seemingly happy to engage in a WhatsApp conversation and sharing messages, instantly. Often the messages themselves are just an entry into me picking up my phone and then going through various apps, drawing my attention away from the task in hand or, well, the here-and-now.

 

The truth is, I don’t need to read every message as it comes in. Nor do I need to reply or fully engage in multiple messages at that moment in time. I’d be a hypocrite to say that we shouldn’t spend time on our phones and to be negative about it. Our phones are great tools and are needed, such is the nature of modernity, but I certainly believe that our behaviours with how they work need to be tempered for a healthier mindset.

 

I made the decision to turn off all notifications for WhatsApp. This has been the single biggest change for my day-to-day mental health. By removing the most common trigger of me engaging with my phone, I’ve increased the time I’ve been present, alongside reducing screen time. This has helped no end in my presence with my family and for myself. Instead, I stay in deeper, engaging conversations, playing with my son, and reading more of that book. When I asked myself, ‘what matters more to you?’, these meaningful experiences, far outweigh the hours spent watching clips of things I’ll forget in the morning on social media apps. I was able to identify the trigger and remove it.

 

I now check my WhatsApp messages like I would my emails, throughout the day. If someone really needs to get hold of me, they can phone me. If it’s not that urgent but still important, they can text me.


  1. Introducing a Coffee/Caffeine Deadline

 

Yes, I’m certainly ‘that guy’, when it comes to coffee. I haven’t drunk instant coffee in years, rather, I enjoy taking my time to grind single origin beans, using a v60 filter, and carefully timing the pour over, to produce, in my opinion at least, a superior cup of Joe. However, I like to think that I won’t bore your tits off by talking about coffee constantly, much like the pour over lot of Instagram seem to. I just want to drink the good stuff.

 

I used to be a five plus cups of coffee a day guy when I first started my career in corporate life. Now, I find huge benefit in the opposite approach; having a coffee/caffeine deadline and limit. The combination of limiting how many cups I have each day, alongside a time that this has to be before, has provided major benefits for me. Ultimately, this comes down to caffeine and the quality of one’s sleep. By introducing a deadline, I ensure that the caffeine I intake each day does not impact the quality of my slumber. My limit is along the same lines but also to reduce the effect caffeine has on my waking hours – there’s a clear correlation of increased caffeine intake with anxiety and jitteriness.  Thankfully the coffee I drink is rich enough in flavour that I’m satisfied by drinking two cups before 10.30am.

 

However, by all means, if you feel that you want or would feel better for having a cup of coffee at 5pm on a weekday to help you overcome a stressful situation or it will enable you to relax and enjoy a break, than I whole-heartedly encourage you to do so. Whatever works for you. After a week or so playing around with quantity and timings, I’ve settled on the right balance for me. As it stands, a limit and deadline are providing what I need.

 

  1. Listening to Whole Albums

 

This may not be a hugely insightful ‘tip’. The concept of listening to a whole album from an artist. It is however, a lost practice. With the emergence of streaming platforms for music, enabling the curation of playlists like nothing before it, settling down to listen to the collective release from musical acts seldom occurred for a few years for me. Having noticed this, I decided I wished for this to change, and have now taken a more programmed approach to my music listening.

 

I’ve spoken before of the value of art for your mental health, most notably through the written word, but it also rings true for our audible creators. The openness to sit with one artist, through their message, their expressions, over the period of time of an album is emphatically rewarding. The artist(s) create the albums with specific cadence, order and, meaning. That gets lost when one slice of that is selected to be played alongside a whole host of others. Having a reflective and curious listening experience from one voice, creates pockets of contemplation, understanding, learning, enrichment, and quite simply, joy. It’s increased the pleasure of my music listening tenfold.

 

  1. Embracing Nature

 

If you’ve made it this far, I know you’re rolling your eyes. This isn’t a recommendation on hugging trees and trying to recreate the psychedelic nature of the summer-of-love. Nae, I’m leaning more towards the Japanese practice of Shinrin side of the spectrum. Our lives often mean we are stuck inside our houses, such is the nature of technology, our jobs, and the great British climate. In my experience, that’s not good for thew ol’ noggin.

 

I recently found myself craving a long walk around a forest. I wanted to be alone and to be in calm surroundings. So that’s what I did. I planned a day soon after my birthday and walked a 14km route through the delights of Thetford Forest on my own. I absolutely adored the experience. I felt so good about it. Well, my legs and feet didn’t the next day, but mentally, it really felt like I had recharged my batteries. I’m not sure if I can fully explain why but that presence in nature, wildlife, and with no others near me, felt truly needed.

 

I rued that I had no phone signal at the start of my walk, disarming me of podcasts and music, but it was actually the final piece of the puzzle. Embrace the silence. Having gone to the forest on a Tuesday, the footfall was small, so throughout my 14km journey, I saw only three people, fully immersing myself between the pine trees and utilising my senses to really switch off from our technology laden world.

 

  1. Make Food From Scratch

 

This last point doesn’t necessarily have to be about food but for me that’s the best way for it to manifest itself in both my interests and everyday being, and I’m sure that’s the same for most people reading this. Moreover, the main point here, is to spend time and effort on producing something of value for yourself with your own hands. Taking that journey from conception, into planning, feeling, and doing, to provide something tangible.

 

I think the best way to do this everyday is by making food from scratch. Not only is this a healthier way to eat for both mental and physical well-being, but the practice can be calming, beneficial, and fun. Having something at the end of it also shows yourself value and that you have achieved something that you wanted to do. Now this can be applied to most things we do, but by consciously reducing the scale, effort and meaning of the ‘thing’, and adding it into your day-to-day, is a reminder that we can do the things we set out for, and combining that in a task that provides contemplation, application, and, dare I say it, ‘mindfulness’, then even better. Sometimes the small wins are just as important as the big ones, to show us that we can do it. A smaller milestone or pep talk, on the way to those much bigger achievements we are working towards.

 

I hope you take value from these five tips. Some may be applicable and appliable to you and worth your considerations, whilst I’m sure some won’t. The purpose of this blog is to help you consider and think through what tips and small changes could you make to help you cope each day and feel improved fulfilment. I encourage you to play around and see what you come up with. I’d also love to hear what they are – please let me know. I may steal a few if I think they can be added to my wellness arsenal. I’m off to make another coffee. Ah, it’s 10.32. Oh well!

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